LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


Sassar  ^emi=Ccntennial  ^erice 


ELIZABETHAN  TRANSLATIONS  FROM  THE  ITAL- 
IAN. By  Mary  Augusta  Scott,  Ph.D.  (A. B.  Vas- 
sar,  1876),  Professor  of  English  Literature  in  Smith 
College. 

SOCIAL  STUDIES  IN  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 
By  Laura  J.  VVylie,  Ph.D.  (A.B.  Vassar,  1877),  Pro- 
fessor of  English  in  Vassar  College. 

THE  LEARNED  LADY  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY.  By  Mvra  Rkynolus,  Ph.D.  (A.B.  Vas- 
sar, 1880),  Professor  of  English  Literature  in  Chicago 
University.     [/« preparation.'] 

THE  CUSTOM  OF  DRAMATIC  ENTERTAINMENT  IN 
SHAKESPEARE'S  PLAYS.  By  Orie  J.  Hatcher, 
Ph.D.  (A.B.  Vassar,  1888),  Formerly  Associate  Pro- 
fessor of  Comparative  Literature  in  Bryn  Mawr  Col- 
lege .    [/«  preparation.  ] 

INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  VARIABLE 
STARS.  By  Caroline  E.  Furness,  Ph.D.  (A.B.  Vas- 
sar, 1891),  Professor  of  Astronomy  in  Vassar  College. 

MOVEMENT  AND  MENTAL  IMAGERY.  By  Mar- 
garet Floy  Washburn,  Ph.D.  (A.B.  Vassar,  1891), 
Professor  of  Psychology  in  Vassar  College.  [/«  prep- 
aration.] 

BRISSOT  DE  V/ARVILLE  ;  A  STUDY  IN  THE  HIS- 
TORY OF  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION.  By  Eloise 
Ellery,  Ph.D.  (A.B.  Vassar,  1897),  Associate  Profes- 
sor of  History  in  Vassar  College. 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 
Boston  and  New  York 


BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 


/  O^^O- 


l^a^e^^ar  ^emi-€entennial  ^ttit^ 

BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

A   STUDY  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF 
THE   FRENCH  REVOLUTION 


BY 

ELOISE  ELLERY,  Ph.D. 

Associate  Professor  of  History  in  Vassar  College 


BOSTON    AND    NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

(Sbe  BiVicr^itiE  jSres?  Cambritifle 

1915 


-B^'^ 


COPYRIGHT,  :91s,  BY  ELOISE  ELLERY 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published   October  iqis 


PUBLISHED   IN   HONOR   OF   THE 

FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY 

OF   THE 

FOUNDING  OF  VASSAR  COLLEGE 

1865-1915 


TO 
F.  M.  E.  AND  M.  A.  A.  E. 


PREFACE 

The  main  sources  for  the  study  of  Brissot's  life  are  his  own 
works,  including  his  early  writings,  his  political  pamphlets,  his 
memoirs  in  the  new  and  critical  edition  of  M.  Claude  Perroud, 
his  correspondence,  also  edited  by  M.  Perroud,  and  especially 
the  newspaper  of  which  he  was  the  editor,  the  Patriote  Fran- 
gais.  Other  material  of  value  is  contained  in  the  publications 
of  the  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs,  in  the  pamphlets  and  news- 
papers of  Brissot's  opponents,  in  letters  and  reports  found 
among  the  correspondence  between  the  French  and  English 
Foreign  Offices,  preserved  at  the  Ministere  des  Affaires  Etran- 
geres  at  Paris,  in  judicial  and  police  reports  at  the  Archives  Na- 
tionales;  and  finally  in  the  Craigie  Papers  among  the  Antiqua- 
rian Society  collections  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  the 
Scioto  Papers  in  the  collections  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society. 

The  writer  desu'cs  to  make  grateful  acknowledgment  to 
the  librarians  and  archivists  of  the  various  libraries  where  her 
investigation  has  been  carried  on,  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad,  for  their  help  and  unfailing  courtesy.  She  is,  moreover, 
especially  indebted  to  Professor  H.  Morse  Stephens,  of  the 
University  of  California,  for  assistance  in  the  initial  stages  of 
her  work;  to  the  late  Professor  Ralph  C.  H.  Catterall,  of  Cornell 
University,  for  untiring  criticism  and  counsel;  to  her  friend 
and  colleague,  Assistant  Professor  C.  Mildred  Thompson,  for 
generous  help  in  proof-reading,  and  above  all  to  the  inspiration 
and  encouragement  of  Professor  Lucy  M.  Salmon  of  Vassar 
College. 

E.  E. 

Vassar  College, 
September,  1915. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 


Introduction 

The  importance  of  Brissot. 

Reasons  why  his  life  has  never  been  written. 

The  diversity  of  his  activities. 

His  connection  with  a  defeated  party. 
Reasons  why  his  life  should  be  written. 

New  conception  concerning  the  Girondins. 

Brissot  —  a  typical  Girondin. 


CHAPTER  n 

Beissot's  Early  Life 4 

Brissot's  birth  and  family. 

Limitations  of  his  early  environment. 

Wide  interests,  large  ambitions,  and  spiritual  revolt. 

Entrance  on  a  legal  career  and  removal  to  Paris. 

Abandonment  of  a  legal  for  a  literary  career. 

Difficulties  of  the  beginner. 

First  opening  for  journalistic  work  with  Swintcn  at  Boulogne. 

Failure,  return  to  Paris,  entrance  to  literary  and  scientific  circles. 

Writings  in  the  interest  of  reform. 

Engagement  to  Felicite  Dupont. 

Journey  to  Switzerland  and  first  contact  with  active  revolu- 
tionists. 

Establishment  of  the  Lycee  at  London. 

English  friends  and  unfortunate  acquaintances. 

Failure  of  the  Lycee,  return  to  Paris  and  imprisonment  in  the 
Bastille  for  alleged  libel. 

Collaboration  with  Clavi^re  and  Mirabeau. 

Schemes  for  reform  work  for  the  Duke  of  Chartres. 

Establishment  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs. 

Journey  to  America. 

Return  to  France  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution. 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  m 

Brissot  as  Author  and  Journalist  before  the  Revolution    41 

Influence  of  Voltaire  on  Brissot. 

Influence  of  Rousseau. 

Influence  of  the  humanitarian  spirit  of  the  age. 

Influence  of  the  physiocrats. 

Influence  of  the  institutions  of  the  United  States. 

His  criticism  of  proposed  reforms. 

His  efforts  to  extend  information  and  to  educate  public  opinion. 

His  difficulties  with  the  censorship  of  the  press. 

The  reception  accorded  to  his  works. 

His  faults  as  a  critic. 

The  permanent  value  of  his  works  —  their  revelation  of  his 

character. 
Qualities  seen  in  his  works:  earnestness,  enthusiasm,  ambition, 

and  optimism. 

CHAPTER  IV 

Brissot's  Travels  in  the  United  States 59 

Brissot's  early  interest  in  the  United  States. 

His  defense  of  Chastellux's  book. 

The  Gallo-American  Society. 

His  book,  De  la  France  et  des  £tats-Unis. 

His  plans  for  the  journey  to  America. 

Their  final  success. 

His  motives. 

His  qualifications  as  an  observer. 

The  voyage  across  the  ocean. 

Boston  and  its  vicinity. 

His  connection  with  the  speculation  in  the  American  debt. 

His  account  of  the  simplicity  and  democracy  of  life. 

His  account  of  Franklin. 

His  account  of  Washington. 

His  account  of  the  Quakers. 

His  account  of  the  work  for  the  negroes. 

His  interest  in  the  public  debt. 

His  interest  in  western  settlement. 

Return  to  France. 

Connection  with  the  land  companies. 

Subsequent  influence  of  his  journey  to  America. 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  V 

Beissot's  Career  as  a  Municipal  Politician  during  the 
Constituent  Assembly 91 

Brissot's  ideas  concerning  the  organization  and  functions  of  the 

States-General. 
His  part  in  the  electoral  campaign;  failure  to  secure  election 

throws  him  into  municipal  assembly. 
Questions  at  issue: 

Internal  organization  of  the  city  government. 

Relation  to  the  authority  of  the  national  government. 

Size  of  the  municipality. 

Relation  of  the  mimicipality  to  the  policy  of  the  National 

Assembly. 
Rights  of  the  people. 
His  interest  in  the  development  of  provincial  government. 
His  part  in  the  Comite  des  Recherches. 

CHAPTER  VI 

Brissot's  Career  during  the  Constituent  Assembly.  As 

A  Journalist  —  "Le  Pateiote  FiiANgAis" 113 

Part  I.    His   Struggles   to   establish  a  Newspaper   and    his 
Attitude  on  Legislation. 

Brissot's  early  journalistic  experience. 

Difficulties  in  establishing  the  Patrioie  Franqais,  his  struggles 

with  the  censorship. 
The  policy  of  the  Patriote  Franqais. 
Its  form  and  contents. 
Its  style. 

Brissot's  collaboration  in  the  Chronique  de  Mois. 
His  collaborators  in  the  Patriote  Franqais. 
His  partner,  the  question  of  responsibility. 
Desmoulins's  attack. 
Brissot's  attitude  toward  the  constitution;  questions  at  issue. 

One  chamber  or  two. 

The  degree  of  independence  of  the  legislative  body. 

The  veto. 

The  right  of  declaring  peace  and  war. 

The  relation  of  the  ministry  to  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

The  democratic  character  of  the  constitution. 


xiv  CONTENTS 

His  attitude  toward  the  judicial  system. 

His  attitude  toward  freedom  of  the  press. 

Attacks  made  upon  him. 

His  a-ttitude  toward  the  administrative  work  of  the  Assembly 

Foreign  affairs. 

The  Church. 

Sale  of  church  lands. 

Financial  affairs. 
His  interest  in  economic  matters. 
His  use  of  the  Patriate  Frangais  as  an  organ  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs. 

CHAPTER  VII 

Brissot's  Career  during  the  Constituent  Assembly.    As 

A  Journalist  —  "Le  Patbiote  Francais" 156 

Part  H.    His    Attitude    toward    Popular    Movements    and 
Public  Opinion. 
Popular  movements. 
The  4th  of  August. 
The  5th  and  6th  of  October. 
The  affair  of  Nancy. 
Popular  societies  as  a  means  of  instruction. 
Brissot's  own  connection  with  popular  societies. 
His  democracy  in  relation  to  women. 
His  democracy  in  relation  to  socialistic  tendencies  and  social 

customs. 
His  republicanism. 

Pre-revolutionary  utterances. 
Continued  support  of  monarchy  in  theory,  but  hesitancy  as  to 

actual  change. 
Attitude  after  June  21;  connection  with  Republicanism. 
Return  to  a  more  moderate  position. 
His  part  in  the  events  leading  to  July  17. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Brissot  as  a  Humanitarian  —  La    Societe  des  Amis  des 
Noirs 182 

Brissot's  incentive  —  an  English  organization  against  the  slave 

trade. 
Mirabeau's  cooperation. 


CONTENTS  XV 

The  organization  of  the  society. 

Its  constitution. 

Its  decline  during  Brissot's  absence  in  America. 

Revival  of  interest  on  his  return. 

Efforts  to  interest  the  government  in  the  work  of  the  society. 

Assistance  of  Clarkson. 

Attacks  on  the  society. 

The  question  of  the  admission  of  deputies  from  the  colonies  to  the 

States-General. 
The  question  of  the  status  of  the  mulattoes  in  the  colonies. 
The  decree  of  March  8,  1790,  against  the  mulattoes,  and  its 

results. 
The  decree  of  October  12,  1790,  against  the  mulattoes,  and  its 

results. 
The  decree  of  May  15,  1791,  in  favor  of  the  mulattoes,  and  its 

results. 
The  decree  of  September  24,  1791,  against  the  mulattoes,  and  its 

results. 
The  question  reopened  in  the  Legislative  Assembly. 
The  final  struggle. 

Results  of  the  colonial  policy  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs. 
Charges  brought  against  the  society  and  against  Brissot. 

CHAPTER  IX 

Brissot  as  a  Member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly      .     .216 
Part  I.  His  Election  and  his  Relation  to  the  War  Question. 
Brissot's  struggle  for  election;  persistent  attacks  upon  him,  the 

accusations  of  Theveneau  de  Morande. 
His  election;  how  received. 
His  general  position. 

His  views  on  the  organization  of  the  Assembly. 
His  election  to  the  diplomatic  committee. 
His  attitude  toward  diplomacy. 
His  attitude  toward  special  questions: 

The  imigres. 

The  princes  who  had  protected  the  imigrSs. 

Cardinal  de  Rohan. 
His  position  at  the  Jacobin  Club. 
His  attitude  toward  the  war  question. 

His  relation  to  Narbonne. 

His  contest  with  Robespierre. 


xvi  CONTENTS 

Desmoulins's  attack  on  Brissot. 

Division  in  the  diplomatic  committee. 

Brissot's  attack  on  Delessart. 

Appointment  of  the  Girondin  ministry. 

Attempt  to  secure  an  alliance  with  England  and  Prussia. 

The  declaration  of  war. 

Support  given  by  the  other  Girondins  to  Brissot's  war  policy. 

Their  motives  in  adopting  this  policy. 


CHAPTER  X 

Brissot  as  a  Member  of  the  Legislative  Assembly      .     .  2o8 
Part  II.  Hia  Interests  and  Influence. 
Brissot's  policy  toward  financial  problems. 
His  policy  toward  non-juring  priests. 

The  Girondin  ministry,  Brissot's  influence  on  its  composition. 
His  influence  over  the  policy  of  this  ministry. 
Change  in  his  attitude;  inconsistencies. 
Attacks  made  upon  him. 
His  attack  on  the  "Austrian  committee." 
His  defense  of  his  alleged  republicanism. 
His  attitude  toward  the  King's  vetoes  and  the  dismissal  of  the 

Girondin  ministry. 
His  attitude  toward  the  events  of  the  20th  of  June. 
His  vacillating  attitude  from  June  20  to  August  10. 
His  position  after  August  10,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Twenty-one. 

Action  toward  Lafayette. 

Address  to  foreign  powers. 

Radical  legislation. 

Struggles  with  the  Commime. 

Accusations  against  him. 
His  relation  to  the  massacres  of  September. 
Summary  of  his  policy  during  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

CHAPTER  XI 

Brissot  and  the  Convention 303 

Brissot's  election. 

The  abolition  of  royalty. 


CONTENTS  xvii 

Quarrel  with  the  Mountain. 

Question  of  the  ministry. 

Question  of  the  departmental  guard. 
Brissot's  expulsion  from  the  Jacobin  Club. 
His  attitude  toward  the  revolutionary  propaganda. 
His  attitude  toward  the  relations  of  France  to  Geneva  and  to  the 

Swiss  cantons. 
His  attitude  toward  Genet's  expedition  to  Spanish  America. 
Question  as  to  his  attitude  toward  foreign  war. 

His  own  contention  that  he  was  opposed  to  it. 

His  attempt  at  alliance  with  England. 

His  alleged  motive  for  appeal  to  the  people  at  the  king's  trial. 

His  speech  of  January  14  in  favor  of  war. 

His  speech  against  the  execution  of  the  king  on  the  ground  that 
it  would  cause  war. 

His  attitude  in  the  king's  trial. 
Brissot's  interest  in  social  equality. 

Revival  of  the  quarrel  between  the  Girondins  and  the  Mountain. 
Attacks  on  Brissot. 

His  withdrawal  from  active  control  of  the  Pairiote  FranQais. 
The  popular  movement  of  March  9. 
Danton's  efforts  at  reconciliation. 
The  desertion  of  Dumouriez  and  the  final  struggle. 
Desmoulins's  attack  —  Histoire  des  Brissotins. 
Brissot's  address  to  his  Commettans. 
The  expulsion  of  the  Girondins  from  the  Convention. 
Bbissot  axd  Federalism. 
Meaning  of  the  word. 

Accusations  of  federalism  and  alleged  proof. 
Accusations  against  Brissot. 
His  defense. 

The  defense  of  the  Girondins  as  a  whole. 
Origin  of  the  change. 
Estimate  of  the  value  of  the  defense. 

CHAPTER  Xn 

Arrest,  Trial,  and  Death 351 

The  situation  of  the  Girondins  in  the  crisis  of  May  31  to  June  2, 

1793. 
Brissot's  flight  to  Versailles. 
His  efforts  in  company  with  Souque  to  seek  refuge  at  Chartres. 


xviii  CONTENTS 

His  wanderings  to  Moulins. 

His  arrest  at  Moulins. 

The  perplexities  of  the  authorities  of  Moulins. 

His  confession  of  his  identity. 

The  decision  to  send  him  to  Paris. 

Accusations  as  to  his  conduct  while  at  Moulins. 

His  arrival  at  Paris. 

Report  of  Saint-Just. 

Brissot's  answer. 

The  writing  of  his  memoirs. 

Appeals  to  the  Convention. 

Amar's  indictment. 

The  answer  prepared  by  Brissot. 

The  preliminary  examination. 

The  trial. 

The  verdict. 

The  execution. 

CHAPTER  Xm 

Brissot's  Family  Life 387 

Brissot's  first  acquaintance  with  Felicite  Dupont. 
Their  engagement,  a  period  of  happy  comradeship. 
Their  marriage. 
Their  life  in  London. 
Financial  troubles. 
The  birth  of  their  first  child. 
Madame  Brissot's  literary  productions. 
Birth  of  two  other  children. 

DiflBculties  of  the  wife  of  a  revolutionist  —  poverty  and  loneliness. 
Her  character. 

Members  of  the  Dupont  family  and  Brissot's  connection  with 
them. 

Frangois  Dupont. 

Madame  Brissot's  sisters. 

Madame  Dupont. 
Brissot's  tardy  recognition  of  his  debt  to  his  family. 
Madame  Brissot's  arrest  and  imprisonment. 
Her  petitions  for  indemnification. 
Her  subsequent  life  and  struggles. 
The  career  of  her  children. 
Her  death. 


CONTENTS  xix 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Brissot's  General  Policy  and  Chakacteb 412 

His  policy  in  regard  to  democracy,  liberty  and  sovereignty  of  the 

people. 
His  patriotism,  cosmopolitan  character. 
How  far  was  he  a  typical  Girondin? 
How  far  was  he  a  leader  of  the  Girondins? 
What  was  his  character?   Diverse  opinions. 
How  far  did  he  possess  fitness  for  leadership? 
WTiy,  in  spite  of  conspicuous  faults,  did  he  succeed  so  well? 

Appendix       429 

A.  Letters  by  and  to  Brissot. 

B.  List  of  members  of  the  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs. 

C.  Accusation  against  Brissot  in  connection  wdth  the  colonies. 

D.  Brissot's  election  to  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

E.  Letter  relating  to  connection  of  Brissot  with  war  with  England. 

Bibliography 453 

Index 509 


BRISSOT  DE  WAEVILLE 

CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

The  life  of  Brissot  has  never  been  written.  Considering  the 
importance  of  the  role  which  he  played  in  the  drama  of  the 
Revolution,  this  absence  of  a  biography  seems  strange.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  he  already  had  considerable 
reputation  as  a  writer,  philanthropist,  and  traveler;  he  took  a 
prominent  part  in  reorganizing  the  city  government  of  Paris; 
as  founder  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs  he  had  a  large  share  in  shaping 
the  colonial  policy  of  the  successive  assemblies;  he  established 
one  of  the  most  influential  newspapers  of  the  period,  and  used 
it  constantly  to  hold  up  American  example  to  France;  he,  prob- 
ably more  than  any  one  individual,  was  responsible  for  bringing 
on  that  foreign  war  which  ended  only  wath  the  fall  of  Napoleon; 
he  was  known  as  the  leader  of  the  Girondins,  and  indeed  gave 
his  name  to  a  whole  section  of  the  party;  and,  when  that  party 
fell,  he  was  brought  to  a  trial  known  as  that  of  "Brissot  and  his 
accomplices."  A  man  of  such  prominence  it  might  be  supposed 
would  be  one  of  the  first  subjects  of  biographical  study.  That 
such  has  not  been  the  case  is  accounted  for  by  two  reasons, 
which,  while  explaining  why  his  life  has  not  been  written,  at 
the  same  time  suggest  why  it  should  be. 

In  the  first  place,  the  very  diversity  of  his  activities  has 
made  his  career  appear  to  lack  unity  and  therefore  interest. 
But  though  his  activities  were  diverse,  they  all  centered,  to  a 
degree  unusual  even  among  his  contemporaries,  upon  a  firm 
belief  in  the  principles  of  liberty,  equality,  and  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people.  Of  these  principles  Brissot  was  one  of  the  earliest 
and  most  ardent  advocates,  and  in  the  external  events  which 


2  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

turned  those  principles  from  theory  into  practice  and  trans- 
formed the  bourgeois  and  limited  monarchy  into  the  demo- 
cratic republic,  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  participants.  His 
early  life  was  a  struggle  against  despotism;  his  early  wtI tings 
are  permeated  with  revolutionary  doctrines ;  his  travels  in  the 
United  States  were  dictated  by  a  desire  to  see  such  doctrines 
in  active  operation;  his  part  in  building  up  a  new  city  govern- 
ment for  Paris  was  an  effort  to  apply  these  doctrines  to  local 
government;  his  founding  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs  witnessed  his 
zeal  for  liberty  and  equality  for  one  particular  class  of  the  un- 
free  and  the  inferior;  finally,  through  his  paper,  the  Patriote 
Frangais,  he  constantly  protested  against  the  inequality  recog- 
nized by  the  limited  suffrage,  and,  while  grudgingly  accepting 
the  constitutional  monarchy,  preached  republicanism  as  a 
theory  and  later  upheld  it  in  practice.  In  the  legislature  under 
the  monarchy,  to  which  in  spite  of  his  republicanism  he  sought 
election,  he  used  all  his  influence  to  bring  on  foreign  war,  on 
the  ground  that  only  by  war  could  the  counter-revolutionists 
at  home  and  abroad  be  defeated  and  liberty  be  preserved.  Al- 
though not  a  leader  in  the  final  establishment  of  the  republic 
he  joyfully  accepted  the  result,  claimed  a  share  in  the  credit, 
and  was  elected  to  the  Convention,  where,  by  preaching  the 
extension  of  the  principles  of  the  Revolution  beyond  the  bor- 
ders of  France,  he  had  a  considerable  share  in  involving 
France  in  a  general  European  war. 

The  failure  of  the  armies  of  France  in  that  war  soon  led  to 
the  overthrow  of  the  Girondins,  and  he  fell  with  them  in  their 
defeat  in  the  Convention.  That  he  belonged  to  the  defeated 
party  is  a  second  reason  for  the  absence  of  a  study  of  his  life. 
As  the  Girondins  passed  from  the  scene  at  the  beginning  of  the 
most  dramatic  phase  of  the  Revolution,  —  among  the  first  vic- 
tims of  the  Terror,  —  they  have  been  objects  of  pity,  but  have 
aroused  much  less  interest  than  their  victorious  opponents,  the 
leaders  of  the  party  of  the  Mountain,  Danton,  Robespierre, 
and  Marat. 

But  this  conception  of  the  Girondins,  as  the  last  representa- 


INTRODUCTION  3 

tives  of  a  disinterested  love  of  country  and  of  opposition  to 
bloodshed,  has  been  given  up.  It  has  been  shown  that  among 
the  Girondins,  as  well  as  among  the  members  of  the  Mountain, 
there  were  both  idealism  and  selfish  ambition;  that  the  Giron- 
dins, after  the  overthrow  of  the  king,  sought  to  seize  for  them- 
selves the  power  that  had  been  wrested  from  the  king  by  others; 
that  they  appealed  to  the  provinces  not  against  the  principles, 
but  against  the  power  of  the  IVIountain  —  an  appeal  which 
brought  against  them  the  accusation  of  federalism ;  that  they, 
as  well  as  the  Mountain,  forged  the  instruments  of  the  Terror, 
but  that  they  lacked  practical  ability  to  suppress  internal  dis- 
sension within  their  group  and  to  control  the  situation  which 
they  themselves,  by  their  instigation  of  foreign  war,  had  had  a 
large  share  in  bringing  about.  Of  this  group  Brissot  is  one  of 
the  most  important  because  he  is  one  of  the  most  typical.  He 
showed  both  the  lofty  idealism  and  the  ambition  and  weak- 
ness of  the  Girondins.  He  was  tremendously  earnest  in  work- 
ing for  the  principles  of  the  Revolution,  and  he  was  also  ex- 
tremely anxious  to  be  one  of  the  agents  through  which  they 
were  to  be  put  into  operation;  at  one  and  the  same  time  he 
upheld  monarchy  and  made  monarchy  impossible.  But  when 
the  democratic  republic,  which  had  long  been  his  ideal,  was 
finally  established,  he  did  not  see  that  the  war  which  he  had 
furthered  in  order  to  maintain  democracy  and  republicanism, 
and  to  extend  them  to  other  lands,  demanded  strong,  vigorous 
measures.  And  thus  he  ultimately  encountered  defeat  because 
of  that  inability  to  meet  changing  conditions —  that  lack  of 
practical  sense  which  was  characteristic  of  the  Girondins  in 
general. 

A  study  of  his  varied  career  as  humanitarian,  journaUst,  and 
political  leader  ought,  therefore,  to  contribute  to  a  better  un- 
derstanding both  of  the  policy  of  the  Girondins  in  the  Revolu- 
tion and  also  of  the  Revolution  as  a  whole. 


CHAPTER  II 

brissot's  early  life 

Like  many  of  his  fellow  revolutionists,  Brissot  was  of  humble 
origin,  being  the  son  of  a  restaurant  keeper.  He  was  born  at 
Chartres,  in  the  parish  of  Saint-Saturnin,  in  a  house  on  what 
was  then  the  rue  de  la  Boucherie,  number  16,^  January  15, ^ 
1754,  and  the  same  day  was  baptized  Jacques  Pierre.^  The 
story  of  his  childhood  and  youth  is  of  significance  in  that  it 
throws  light  on  his  later  career,  while  the  personal  characteris- 
tics and  external  experiences  and  limitations  of  his  early  life 
explain  Brissot  the  revolutionist.* 

The  most  striking  facts  about  his  childhood,  as  he  himself 
tells  of  it,  were  his  mother's  efforts  to  secure  for  him  a  good  edu- 
cation and  his  almost  abnormal  love  of  study.  In  this  effort 
to  obtain  for  her  sons  opportunities  for  study,  Madame  Brissot 
found  herself  opposed  by  her  husband,  who  did  not  favor  any- 
thing like  a  liberal  education  for  his  children.  His  attitude  was 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  perhaps,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there 
were  seven  of  them  to  be  provided  for,^  but  according  to  Brissot 

1  An  article  in  the  IntermSdiaire  des  chercheurs  of  July  30,  1898,  vol.  n,  in 
which  it  was  asserted  that  Brissot  was  born  at  number  7  rue  des  Vievx-Capu- 
chins,  led  to  an  investigation  of  the  subject  by  the  Societe  arcMologique  d'Eure- 
et-Loir.  It  was  shown  that  this  statement  was  a  mistake,  but  that  the  real 
place  of  his  birth  was  that  given  above,  number  16  rue  de  la  Boucherie,  now  rue 
du  Cygne,  number  6. 

2  See  the  record  of  Brissot's  baptism  given  in  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  les 
Girondins,  ii,  242. 

'  Not  Jean  Pierre,  as  given  in  the  act  of  accusation  before  the  revolutionary 
tribunal.  The  mistake  must  have  been  of  earlier  date,  however,  as  Camille 
Desmoulins'  pamphlet  published  in  February,  1792,  is  entitled  "Jean  Pierre 
Brissot  demasque." 

*  Practically  the  only  source  of  information  on  Brissot's  early  life  is  his  own 
memoirs.  As  far  as  possible  his  statements  have  been  verified  by  other  author- 
ity, but  much  still  remains  uncorroborated. 

*  Brissot  {Memoires,  ed.  par  Perroud,  i,  25)  says  that  he  was  the  third  child 


EARLY  LIFE  5 

it  was  due  to  a  narrow-minded  fear  that  they  might  look  down 
upon  him  with  scorn  if  they  were  too  well  educated.  Brissot's 
mother,  however,  was  more  ambitious.  Not  satisfied  with  the 
meager  opportunities  which  Brissot  had  had  in  the  little  dame 
school  to  which  he  had  been  sent,  she  besought  his  father  early 
and  late  till  she  finally  obtained  a  reluctant  consent  to  further 
schooling  for  her  sons.^ 

Brissot  was  accordingly  taken  from  this  dame  school  and,  in 
company  with  an  elder  brother,  entrusted  to  an  uncle,  a  priest 
in  a  neighboring  town,  to  be  prepared  for  a  higher  school.  On 
the  death  of  his  uncle,  three  months  later,  he  went  back  to 
Chartres  to  finish  his  preparation.  He  now  began  the  study  of 
Latin  with  the  master  of  a  boarding-school,  and  the  following 
year,  at  the  age  of  eight,  he  entered  the  college  at  Chartres, 
where  he  spent  the  next  seven  years  of  his  life.^  Here  he  re- 
ceived the  usual  classical  training  of  the  time,  consisting  of 
rhetoric,  logic,  Latin,  and  Greek. 

As  a  consequence  of  the  personal  interest  of  one  of  his  teach- 
ers, he  devoted  especial  attention  to  Latin. ^  So  eager  was  he  to 
excel  that  he  used  to  beg  a  candle  from  his  sister  when  she  went 
to  mass  at  four  in  the  morning,  and  with  the  aid  of  a  dark  lan- 
tern to  conceal  the  light,  that  his  father  should  not  know  what 
he  was  up  to,  he  would  pore  over  his  Latin,  quite  as  much  a 
devotee  to  his  books  as  his  sister  to  her  religion.  In  after  life, 
when  he  became  imbued  with  Rousseauism,  he  was  wont  to 
criticize  the  rigidity  of  the  system  by  which  he  was  taught. 
Although  it  did  much  to  train  the  memory,  it  was  not  calcu- 

and  that  there  were  four  younger  than  he.  Perroud  (Brissot,  Correspondance  et 
Papiers,  Notice,  viii-x)  says  there  were  sixteen.  In  any  case  only  seven  lived 
beyond  infancy.  For  details  as  to  the  career  of  those  seven  see,  in  addition  to 
Perroud,  an  article  by  A.  H.  Gibon  in  the  Journal  des  Chartres,  September  30, 
1899,  quoted  entire  in  the  Proces-verbaux  de  la  Societe  arcMologique  d'Eure-et- 
Loir,  X,  121-23. 

^  Memoir es,  i,  28-29. 

^  Ihid.,  I,  32-34.  Brissot  speaks  of  this  school  as  a  college.  But  the  so- 
called  colleges  of  that  time  do  not  correspond  at  all  to  our  colleges.  They  were 
scarcely  of  as  high  a  grade  as  the  preparatory  schools  of  to-day. 

»  Ibid.,  I,  33. 


6  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

lated  to  inspire  originality  nor  to  develop  the  individuality  of 
the  student.  Such  evidences  of  spontaneity  as  he  did  show,  far 
from  being  encouraged,  were,  he  asserted,  actually  repressed. 
He  declares  that  even  as  a  child  he  had  an  uncomfortable  sense 
of  being  cramped  by  a  system  which  did  not  fit  him,  and  a 
vague  longing  for  better  opportunities  of  self-expression.^ 

But  the  prevailing  system  of  education  at  least  gave  him  the 
habit  of  work  and  a  well-trained  memory.  He  showed  an  un- 
usual fondness  for  study  and  seems  to  have  been  successful  in 
all  his  classes. 2  His  imagination,  moreover,  found  satisfaction 
and  stimulus  in  the  contents  of  the  library  which  one  of  his 
teachers  kindly  placed  at  his  disposal.  Here  was  a  perfect  mine 
of  delight,  and  he  fell  upon  it  with  avidity.  "While  reading  the 
history  of  China,"  he  wrote  in  his  memoirs,  "I  was  a  conquer- 
ing Tartar;  when  reading  Plutarch,  I  was  eager  to  be  like  Pho- 
cion.  The  hut  of  Philocles,  pictured  with  all  the  charm  of 
Fenelon,  appeared  to  me  more  desirable  than  all  the  thrones  of 
the  world.  .  .  .  The  reading  of  travels  changed  the  course  of  my 
ideas;  I  became  a  traveler.  I  literally  devoured  the  voyages  of 
Magellan,  of  Anson,  of  Drake,  and  of  Kempfer."  ^  All  in  all, 
his  school  days  were  happy.  When  he  returned  home,  exulting 
in  his  little  triumphs,  he  was  hurt  by  his  father's  coldness  and 
lack  of  sympathy;  but  he  found  compensation  for  this  disap- ■ 
pointment  in  his  mother's  unfailing  pride  in  his  achievements 
and  in  her  keen  appreciation  and  constant  encouragement. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  left  the  college  and  had  to  choose  a 
vocation.  After  some  hesitation  he  decided  on  the  legal  profes- 
sion, partly  because  he  had  some  inclination  for  the  law,  but 
chiefly,  it  must  be  confessed,  because  that  career  seemed  to  be 
the  only  one  open  to  him.  Having  once  made  up  his  mind,  he 
sought  the  best  lawyer  of  Chartres,  M.  Horeau,  began  his 
studies  under  his  direction,  and  threw  himself,  heart  and  soul, 

1  Memoires,  i,  35. 

2  Petion,  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  les  Girondins,  ii,  220. 
These  notes  by  Petion  are  evidently  based  on  information  derived  from  Brissot 

personally  and  therefore  have  not  the  value  of  an  independent  source. 
'  Memoires,  i,  42- W. 


EARLY  LIFE  7 

into  the  work.  He  was  an  indefatigable  student  in  all  branches 
of  the  subject,  —  of  canon,  as  well  as  of  criminal  and  civil  law. 
He  soon  felt  sufficiently  sure  of  his  knowledge  to  venture  to 
write  a  short  treatise  on  canon  law  under  the  title  of  Rome 
demasque,  ou  Observations  sur  le  droit  canonique}  This  he  fol- 
lowed by  an  essay  on  theft  and  property,  in  which  he  argued 
that  in  a  state  of  nature  there  was  no  such  thing  as  theft,  — 
a  work  which  subsequently  brought  upon  him  much  criticism. ^ 

Nor  were  his  interests  confined  to  legal  matters.  After  the 
fashion  of  the  time,  he  took  all  knowledge  for  his  province. 
M.  Horeau's  son  possessed  a  library  containing  some  works  on 
physics;  Brissot  immediately  began  to  read  on  that  subject. 
Two  Englishmen  happened  to  be  stopping  at  Chartres;  he 
seized  the  opportunity  to  take  lessons  in  English.^  A  friend  ad- 
vised him  to  study  Italian;  he  not  only  followed  the  advice, 
but  went  on  to  the  study  of  Spanish  and  Portuguese.  And 
finally,  what  was  very  unusual  for  a  Frenchman  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  he  even  aspired  to  learn  German.^  According  to 
Petion  he  was  a  veritable  prodigy  in  learning  foreign  languages.^ 
At  all  events,  he  had  unusual  aptitude  for  such  studies  and  made 
considerable  progress  in  a  short  time.  He  even  planned  a  trea- 
tise on  the  Theorie  des  langues  de  VEuroj)e  et  surtout  de  la  langue 
frangaise,  but  the  appearance  of  Gebelin's  learned  work  on  this 
subject  prevented,  perhaps  fortunately,  its  publication.^ 

Still  he  was  not  a  recluse.  He  enjoyed  an  occasional  game  of 
billiards,  took  some  part  in  social  life,  and  made  various  friends; 
among  them,  Blot,^  to  whom  he  remained  deeply  attached  to 
the  day  of  his  death.  About  this  time  the  idea  of  marriage  be- 
gan to  present  itself  to  him  in  a  form  quite  in  accordance  with 

1  Memoires,  i,  46-48.  »  See  p.  266. 

3  Memoires,  i,  48.  Petion,  in  his  Notice  sur  Brissot,  implies  that  Brissot  car- 
ried on  his  studies  without  assistance.     Vatel,  ii,  221. 

*  Memoires,  i,  53-54.        *  Notice  in  Vatel,  ii,  221.        *  Memoires,  i,  55-57. 

^  Blot,  Pierre  Charles,  began  his  career  as  an  ecclesiastic,  gave  up  the  Church, 
married,  entered  the  financial  administration  of  the  state  at  Lyons,  and 
became  one  of  the  leading  revolutionists  of  that  city.  He  came  to  be  closely 
associated  with  the  Rolands  and  with  Brissot.     See  p.  121. 


8  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

his  intellectual  tastes.  "I  wanted  a  wife,"  he  writes,  "who, 
with  external  attractions,  would  combine  good  judgment  and 
a  philosophical  spirit;  who  would  prefer  not  the  vain  pleasures 
of  the  world,  but  those  of  solitude;  who  would  be  a  good  mother 
and  a  good  wife;  but  who,  at  the  same  time,  would  be  suffi- 
ciently well  educated  to  be  my  friend,  my  second  self,  the  com- 
panion of  my  studies."  For  so  rare  a  partner  he  searched  in 
vain,  till  his  friend  Blot,  who  shared  his  views,  came  to  the  res- 
cue and  told  him  of  some  one  who,  he  assured  Brissot,  had  all 
these  qualifications  which  he  had  enumerated,  and,  moreover, 
a  very  strong  character  besides.  But  apparently  before  Brissot 
could  even  make  her  acquaintance  she  gave  a  peculiar  evidence 
of  her  strength  of  character  by  killing  herself.  ^  Much  disheart- 
ened, and  perhaps  alarmed  by  such  possibilities,  Brissot  seems 
to  have  abandoned  the  search  for  a  wife  and  flung  himself  back 
into  his  studies. 

If  his  intellectual  achievements  and  interests  were  abnormal, 
his  religious  experience  was  a  more  common  one.  Like  many 
of  his  contemporaries,  he  began  with  extreme  devotion  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  passed  through  a  severe  struggle,  and 
ended  in  deism.  His  early  training  was  under  the  direction  of 
priests  and  in  an  atmosphere  of  intense  religiousness.  He  at- 
tended mass  every  day,  piously  confessed  his  faults,  and  dis- 
played all  the  ardor  of  a  zealous  neophyte.  In  the  simplicity 
of  his  faith  he  attributed  all  his  success  to  his  devotion  to  the 
Virgin,  and  on  the  eve  of  the  distribution  of  prizes,  his  Ave 
Marias  were  very  numerous.^ 

Out  of  this  comfortable  belief  he  was  shaken  by  the  sneers 
and  ridicule  of  one  of  his  schoolmates,  Guillard,^  who,  as  it  hap- 
pened, was  not  only  exceptionally  clever,  but  had  enjoyed 
unusual  advantages  at  home.  He  was  accordingly  much  looked 
up  to  and  his  opinion  had  great  weight  with  Brissot.  The  latter 
now  began  to  read  for  himself  Guillard's  favorite  authors,  such 
as  Rousseau,  Voltaire,  and  Diderot.    La  profession  de  foi  du 

»  Mcmoires,  i,  43-44.  62-63.  ^  Ibid.,  \,  37. 

^  Afterward  a  poet  of  some  note.  See  p.  11. 


EARLY  LIFE  9 

vicaire  Savoyard,  to  quote  his  own  words,  first  caused  the  scales 
to  fall  from  his  eyes ;  but  it  was  only  after  careful  study  of  all 
the  books  within  his  reach  that  he  definitely  abandoned  Chris- 
tianity, and  it  was  many  years  before  he  could  entirely  get  rid 
of  "the  prejudices  which  had  driven  long,  deep  roots  into  his 
soul."  1 

Once  during  this  struggle  he  was  tempted  to  become  a  monk, 
not  at  all  on  account  of  any  spiritual  longing  for  peace,  but  be- 
cause he  craved  the  opportunity  which  the  cloister  afforded  for 
a  life  of  study.  A  mere  subsistence  and  books  were  all  he 
needed  to  be  happy.  From  any  such  intention  he  was  dissuaded 
by  a  certain  Benedictine  monk,  who  with  much  frankness  pic- 
tured to  him  the  restrictions  of  the  monastic  life  in  anything 
but  glowing  colors.  This  episode  confirmed  him  in  his  opposi- 
tion to  Christianity.  He  even  wrote  a  savage  attack  on  the 
Christian  religion,  entitled  Lettres  philosophiques  sur  la  vie  et 
les  ecrits  de  Saint  Paid^  The  result  of  this  experience  was  that 
he  became  a  believer  in  deism  and  continued  in  that  faith  to  the 
end  of  his  days. 

His  struggle  was  all  the  harder  because  he  had  to  fortify  him- 
self against  the  inevitable  opposition  of  his  family.  He  could 
not  bear  the  thought  of  the  strife  that  was  sure  to  come,  and  for 
a  long  time  concealed  his  changed  views.  For  the  sake  of  his 
sister  he  even  continued  to  partake  of  the  eucharist  after  he 
had  lost  all  faith  in  its  efficacy.  It  was  the  spiritual  separation 
from  his  mother,  however,  which  was  hardest  to  endure.  She 
had  made  possible  his  education,  sympathized  with  him  in  his 
struggles,  and  stood  between  him  and  his  unsympathetic  father. 
But  the  break  could  not  be  avoided  and  was  a  tragedy  for  both 
sides  —  for  Brissot  because  he  was  torn  between  sorrow  for  hav- 
ing wounded  his  family  and  irritation  at  what  seemed  to  him 
the  most  narrow-minded  dogmatism;  and  for  his  family  because 

^  Memoires,  i,  38. 

^  Of  the  trenchant  and  dogmatic  tone  of  this  work  he  was  afterward  much 
ashamed.  At  the  time  it  seems  to  have  given  him  a  reputation  for  cutting  sar- 
casm which,  to  his  regret,  made  the  young  women  of  his  acquaintance  rather 
afraid  of  him.     {MSmoires,  i,  61-62.) 


10  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

they  believed  him  lost  to  all  eternity.  As  he  himself  well  ex- 
pressed it,  he  and  his  family  had  ceased  to  speak  a  common 
language.^ 

This  religious  difficulty  made  his  home  life  unhappy  and  in 
consequence  hastened  his  departure  from  Chartres.  He  suf- 
fered, too,  from  want  of  intellectual  companionship.  In  the 
words  of  a  modern  writer,  he  felt  himself  cut  off  equally  from 
the  blessings  of  society  and  of  solitude,  and  longed  for  life  either 
in  the  country  or  in  a  large  city.  The  chief  reason,  however,  for 
his  leaving  Chartres  was  the  consuming  ambition  which  was 
one  of  his  most  marked  characteristics.  While  still  in  school  his 
plans  for  himself  had  gone  beyond  anything  his  native  town  had 
to  offer;  and  when  a  kindly  neighbor,  thinking  to  flatter  the 
boy,  suggested  that  some  day  he  would  be  like  M.  Janvier,  one 
of  the  best  lawyers  of  the  place,  he  was  actually  displeased  at 
the  comparison,^  and  the  more  he  studied  the  more  Chartres 
seemed  to  him  insupportable.  His  aspiration  was  all  for  a  ca- 
reer in  Paris,  but  it  was  only  after  four  years  of  the  study  of  law 
in  Chartres  that  an  opening  presented  itself.  The  opportunity 
came  through  a  Paris  lawyer,  a  M.  Nolleau,  who  happened  to 
be  stopping  at  Chartres.  On  hearing  of  his  arrival,  Brissot 
seized  the  chance,  wrote  to  him  at  once  asking  for  a  position, 
and  accompanied  the  application  with  a  copy  of  one  of  his  legal 
essays.  This  production,  according  to  Brissot's  own  account, 
happened  to  strike  the  fancy  of  M.  Nolleau,  who  offered  him 
the  place  of  first  clerk. ^ 

While  still  living  at  Chartres  he  had  added  to  his  name  "  de 
Warville,"  the  anglicized  form  of  Ouarville,  a  little  village 
where  his  father  owned  some  property.^  For  this  addition  to  his 
name  he  was  afterwards  much  criticized,  on  the  ground  that  it 

1  Mcmoires,  i,  28-39.  ^  /^^-j.^  i^  42.  3  Ibid.,  i,  63,  65. 

*  Brissot,  Reponse  d.  tous  les  lihellistes,  5.  The  account  which  he  there  gives 
is  incorporated  by  Montrol  in  his  edition  of  Brissot's  memoirs,  a  fact  to  which 
M.  Perroud,  in  his  edition,  calls  attention,  (i,  53.)  A  writer  in  the  Intermedi- 
aire  des  cherchcurs  et  cvrieiix  for  January  25, 1876,  says:  Warville  nest  en  effet 
que  la  corruption  cuphonique  du  mot  Warvick  [sic]  laisse  en  France  par  Richard 
Nevil,  comte  de  Warvick. 


EARLY  LIFE  11 

betokened  an  unseemly  hankering  after  aristocratic  distinc- 
tions. Whether  this  criticism  was  justified  or  not,  he  continued 
to  sign  himself  "Brissot  de  Warville,"  and  by  that  name  has 
long  been  known. ^ 

It  was  in  1774  that  he  left  Chartres.^  The  rest  of  his  life,  with 
brief  intermissions,  was  to  be  spent  in  Paris.  The  occupations 
in  which  he  engaged,  and  the  connections  which  he  made,  both 
worked  toward  the  development  of  the  future  revolutionist. 
He  was  now  twenty  years  of  age,  abounding  in  hope  and  enthu- 
siasm, and  any  regret  which  he  might  have  felt  at  leaving  Char- 
tres  was  quite  overbalanced  by  his  delight  at  the  prospect  of  life 
in  the  city  which,  with  a  not  too  modest  opinion  of  his  own 
ability,  he  regarded  "  as  the  center  of  science  and  a  stage  worthy 
of  his  efforts."^ 

Full  of  confidence  in  himself,  he  ventured,  on  the  basis  of  a 
short  acquaintance  with  the  theater,  to  prepare  a  plan  for  a 
theater  which  should  make  a  special  business  of  presenting 
plays  in  English,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  German;  and  what  was 
more,  he  had  the  temerity  to  seek  out  Linguet,  the  distin- 
guished publicist,  and  present  to  him  his  plan.^  Although 
warned  by  Linguet  against  a  literary  career,  Brissot  refused  to 
be  dissuaded,  and  influenced  by  the  glowing  pictures  painted  by 
his  young  friend,  the  poet  Guillard,^  of  the  delights  of  the  life  of 
a  man  of  letters,  he  soon  threw  in  his  fortunes  with  the  latter, 
and  with  a  light  heart  started  in  pursuit  of  fame  and  fortune 
as  a  writer.^  In  order  to  prepare  himself  for  his  profession  he 
devoted  his  entire  time  to  study.  Even  on  Sundays  and  holi- 
days he  would  not  leave  his  Locke,  his  Montesquieu,  and  his 
Montaigne,^  and  when  Guillard  would  come  in  from  his  mid- 

»  See  pp.  220-21. 

^  Brissot  does  not  give  the  date  of  his  arrival,  but  says  he  found  the  city  in 
mourning  for  Louis  XV.  {Memoires,  i,  67.)  As  Louis  died  on  the  10th  of  May, 
1774,  and  the  period  of  mourning  for  the  king  was  three  months,  this  would  fix 
the  date  of  Brissot's  arrival  some  time  between  May  10  and  August  10,  1774. 
(Franklin,  La  Vie  privce  d' autrefois,  les  magasins  des  nouveautes,  iii,  131-32.) 

3  Memoires,  i,  66.  ■*  Ilrid.,  i,  82.  ^  See  p.  8. 

*  Memoires,  i,  102-03.  ^  Petion,  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Vatel,  ii,  222. 


12  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

night  suppers  he  would  find  Brissot  still  poring  over  his  Greek 
dictionary.  Meanwhile  he  had  to  live,  and  he  was  not  long  in 
discovering  that  the  path  of  a  young  man  dependent  on  his  pen 
for  support  was  no  easy  one.  He  was  obliged  to  ask  his  mother 
for  money,  but  the  amount  which  she  could  send  him  was  not 
sufficient  for  his  needs ;  the  little  pamphlets  on  matters  of  the 
day,  from  which  he  expected  to  make  some  money,  were  indeed 
accepted  by  a  publisher,  but  the  publisher  failed  to  pay  him 
anything  for  them;  a  spiteful  satire,  Le  Pot  fourri,  which,  in  his 
disgust  with  the  chicanery  of  the  law,  he  wrote  in  collaboration 
with  Guillard,  brought  on  him  the  threat  of  a  lettre  de  cachet, 
on  account  of  some  aspersions  which  it  contained  on  the  wife  of 
a  certain  lawyer.^  And  to  crown  his  misfortunes,  just  as  he  was 
threatened  with  the  lettre  de  cachet,  he  was  taken  ill  with  fever, 
aggravated,  if  not  brought  on,  by  a  combination  of  overwork, 
the  excessive  use  of  punch,  and  insufficient  nourishment.  Ill  as 
he  was,  he  was  obliged  to  flee  at  once;  and  it  was  only  after  an 
illness  of  several  months  that  he  was  sufficiently  restored  in 
health  to  return  to  Paris,  weak  in  body  and  chastened  in  spirit. 

As  nothing  better  offered,  he  went  back  to  Guillard.  It  was 
the  same  struggle  to  make  both  ends  meet,  and  they  were  often 
in  distress.  But  it  was  harder  for  Brissot  than  for  Guillard,  for 
the  latter  was  a  favorite  in  literary  circles  and  was  frequently 
relieved  of  the  necessity  of  paying  for  his  meals  by  an  invita- 
tion to  dinner,  while  Brissot,  neither  so  popular  nor  so  well 
known,  had  to  provide  his  own  dinner  and  find  consolation  by 
flattering  himself,  as  he  ate  his  bread  and  cheese  alone,  that  he 
was  above  being  a  parasite.^ 

Meanwhile  he  was  becoming  more  and  more  absorbed  in 
plans  for  the  reform  of  existing  institutions.  In  the  enormous 
scale  of  the  works  he  undertook  to  write  and  in  the  audacious 
enterprise  with  which  he  brought  them  to  the  attention  of  dis- 
tinguished men,  he  showed  the  same  undaunted  courage  and 
large  ambition  which  he  had  already  displayed  in  his  work  on 
canon  law  '  and  in  his  plans  for  a  theater,^  and  which  he  after- 

1  MSmoires,  i,  104.  «  jud,^  j^  120.  s  See  p.  7.  *  See  p.  11. 


EARLY  LIFE  13 

ward  showed  throughout  the  Revolution.  In  addition  to  a 
satirical  attack  on  the  English  cabinet,  entitled  Testament  poli- 
tique de  VAngleterre,  he  planned  a  Theorie  des  his  criminelles,^ 
and  sketched  the  outline  of  a  work  to  be  called  Pyrrhonisme 
universelle.  The  last  he  ventured  to  send  to  D'Alembert  and 
was  much  hurt  that  D'Alembert  gave  him  only  compliments 
when  he  wanted  advice  and  encouragement.  Wishing  to  print 
the  letter  which  D'Alembert  had  written  him,  and  having  lost 
the  original,  he  had  the  audacity  to  submit  a  copy  to  him  and 
to  ask  for  corrections.^ 

Voltaire  seemed  to  be  the  one  man  who  inspired  him  with 
awe.  He  yearned  to  present  the  introduction  to  his  work  on 
the  Theorie  des  lois  criminelles  to  Voltaire,  but  after  having 
been  actually  admitted  to  the  house  where  Voltaire  was  a 
guest,  his  courage  suddenly  failed  him  and  he  quietly  stole 
out.  Ashamed  of  this  performance,  he  tried  again,  this  time 
armed  with  a  letter  to  present,  but  again  he  turned  and  rushed 
down  the  steps.  But  as  it  happened,  he  ran  against  Madame 
Du  Barry,  who  was  just  coming  away  from  her  one  famous  in- 
terview with  Voltaire,  and  Brissot  summoned  up  courage  to 
address  himself  to  her.  She  good-naturedly  took  pity  on  his 
timidity,  and  called  the  master  of  the  house.  Thus  Brissot  was 
able  to  give  his  letter  directly  into  the  hands  of  Voltaire's  host. 
He  was  still  more  delighted  to  receive  from  Voltaire  a  flatter- 
ing reply,  a  part  of  which  he  inserted  in  the  preface  of  his 
work.^ 

The  plan  for  the  Testament  politique  de  VAngleterre  did  not 
promise  so  well  at  first,  though  in  the  end  it  brought  him  good 
fortune.  Vergennes,  to  whom  he  sent  the  manuscript,  was  so 
afraid  of  irritating  the  English  that  he  forbade  its  publication, 
but  Brissot  managed  to  get  it  printed  surreptitiously,  outside 
of  France.  A  copy  happened  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  Swinton, 
the  publisher,  who,  in  his  Courrier  de  VEurope,  was  making  a 
specialty  of  English  affairs.  Being  struck  with  Brissot's  knowl- 

'  See  p.  45.  ^  Memoires,  i,  121-23. 

^  Ibid.,  I,  145-47;  also  Correspondance,  3. 


14  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

edge  of  the  subject,  he  offered  him  a  place  on  the  French  edi- 
tion of  the  paper,  published  at  Boulogne.^  This  was  a  godsend 
to  Brissot  personally.  Moreover,  he  looked  upon  it  as  an  oppor- 
tunity to  better  the  character  of  the  paper,  —  which,  according 
to  his  own  account,  was  sadly  ua  need  of  improvement,  —  and 
thus  to  render  a  service  to  men  of  letters  and  to  the  cause  of 
political  liberty.2  Incidentally  it  would  enable  him  to  continue 
his  scientific  and  political  studies.  But  most  of  all  it  was  his 
chance  to  break  away  from  a  kind  of  life  for  which  his  con- 
science had  begun  to  trouble  him.  Having  paid  his  debts  with 
money  which  Swinton  advanced,  he  settled  up  his  affairs  and 
set  out  in  a  state  of  blissful  content  for  the  scene  of  his  new 
labors,  as  delighted  to  leave  Paris  as  he  had  been  four  years 
before  to  arrive  there. ^ 

Brissot  was  forever  an  optimist.  Each  new  enterprise,  each 
fresh  start,  was  sure  to  be  a  success.  The  life  at  Boulogne,  he 
was  confident,  was  to  give  him  the  opportunities  he  had  hitherto 
sought  in  vain.  At  first  everything  answered  to  his  expecta- 
tions. He  was  pleased  with  the  English  household  of  Swinton,  in 
which  he  was  received  on  familiar  terms,  enjoyed  the  society  of 
various  families  to  whom  he  was  introduced,  and  was  charmed 
with  the  country  walks  in  the  beautiful  surroundings  of  Bou- 
logne and  along  the  seashore.  Besides  all  this,  he  was  able  to 
complete  his  work  on  the  Theorie  des  his  criminelles,  a  part  of 
which  he  presented  in  competition  for  a  prize  offered  by  the 
Economic  Society  of  Berne.'*  His  main  attention,  of  course, 
was  given  to  the  Courrier,  and  into  his  new  work  he  threw  him- 
self with  enthusiasm,  delighted  to  have  a  vehicle  for  the  expres- 
sion of  his  ideas.  But  his  good  fortune  suddenly  changed.  Ac- 
cording to  his  own  account  he  expressed  his  ideas  with  too 
much  freedom,  and  in  consequence  brought  down  upon  the 
Courrier  an  order  from  the  censor  to  confine  itself  to  English 

1  Memoires,  i,  137-40.  ^  Reponsc  d,  tons  les  libellistcs,  7. 

«  Memoires,  i,  139-40.  See  also  Petion,  Notice  sttr  Brissot,  in  Vatel,  ii,  220. 
Petion  evidently  confuses  Brissot's  subsequent  connection  with  the  Courrier 
at  London  with  liis  work  at  Boulogne. 

*  Memoires,  i,  154-64. 


EARLY  LIFE  15 

news  and  to  let  French  politics  alone.  His  vi^ork  being  thus  re- 
duced to  mere  mechanical  tasks,  he  began  to  lose  interest  in  it. 
At  the  same  time  Swinton,  Brissot  asserts,  had  become  ab- 
sorbed in  some  new  scheme  for  the  development  of  which  he 
needed  to  exercise  greater  economy.  He  accordingly  sent  word 
to  Brissot  from  London,  where  he  was  staying  for  the  moment, 
that  he  no  longer  needed  his  services,  but  he  concealed  the  real 
motive  and  tried  to  soften  the  abrupt  dismissal  by  inviting 
Brissot  to  visit  him  in  his  London  home.  In  spite  of  his  dis- 
charge, Brissot  still  had  confidence  in  Swinton  and  accepted 
the  invitation,  thus  closing  this  chapter  of  his  career  with  a 
visit  to  England,  —  his  first  journey  out  of  France.^  This  con- 
fidence, however,  seems  to  have  been  misplaced,  for,  with 
unpardonable  simplicity,  having  left  the  settlement  of  their 
financial  arrangements  to  Swinton,  he  found  that  Swinton  had 
made  the  settlement  very  much  to  his  own  advantage. ^  This 
account,  of  course,  rests  on  Brissot's  own  statement.  It  is 
quite  possible  there  may  have  been  another  side  to  the  story. 
However  that  may  be,  from  a  business  and  professional  point 
of  view  his  Boulogne  experience  had  not  been  the  success  he  had 
anticipated.^  It  had,  however,  a  lasting  importance  for  him, 
aside  from  the  experience  with  newspaper  work,  as  it  was  at 
Boulogne  that  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  young  woman 
who  was  afterwards  to  become  his  wife  —  Felicite  Dupont. 

After  a  brief  sojourn  in  London  Brissot  returned  to  Paris. 
"Thrown  back  into  the  whirlpool,"  to  quote  his  own  language, 
from  which  he  had  been  so  glad  to  escape,  he  had  to  find  a  way 
to  make  his  living.^  While  still  at  Boulogne  he  had  appealed  to 

1  MSmoires,  i,  169-73.  2  /j,-^^  j^  173 

^  How  long  he  stayed  at  Boulogne,  Brissot  does  not  say.  He  apparently  went 
there  in  the  spring  of  1778  (see  letter  addressed  to  him  at  the  time  he  left  Paris, 
by  Voltaire,  Memoires,  i,  147,  and  Corresfondance,  3).  According  to  Perroud 
{La  Revolution  Franqaise,  xlvii,  127),  he  returned  to  Paris  in  the  autumn  of 
1780,  but  as  he  seems  to  have  been  in  Paris  when  he  was  summoned  by  his 
father's  last  illness  {Memoires,  i,  180),  and  his  father  died  December  24,  1779 
{Notice  by  Perroud  in  his  Correspondance),  his  stay  at  Boulogne  could  have 
lasted  not  more  than  a  year  and  a  half. 
*  Memoires,  i,  166-73. 


16  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

his  father,  but  received  only  a  chilling  response,  written,  Brissot 
was  confident,  under  priestly  influence,  in  which  he  spoke  with 
pride  of  the  first  mass  of  another  son,  and  made  it  uncomfort- 
ably plain  to  Brissot  that  he  would  give  him  help  only  on  con- 
dition of  his  returning  to  the  true  fold.^  Brissot  evidently  had 
nothing  to  hope  from  that  source.  He  then  applied  to  Linguet. 
But  Linguet  had  been  obliged  to  leave  France  on  account  of  his 
quarrels  with  the  encyclopedists,  and  was  not  in  prosperous 
circumstances.  The  only  work  which  Linguet  would  give  him 
was  the  making  of  an  index  for  three  or  four  volumes  of  his 
Annates.'^  He  also  secured  some  hack  work  on  a  Dictionnaire 
ecclesiastique  de  ioute  la  France,  but  he  seems  never  to  have 
received  a  sou  for  it. 

In  his  discouragement  and  loneliness  he  began  to  think  that 
it  would  be  a  comfortable  consolation  to  have  a  wife  to  share  his 
troubles.  He  had  been  greatly  taken  with  Mademoiselle  Du- 
pont,  whose  family  he  had  come  to  know  at  Boulogne,  but  the 
knowledge  that  she  was  already  engaged  had  been  an  effectual 
check  to  his  ardor.  His  thoughts  now  turned  to  a  daughter  of 
Swinton,  but  Swinton,  who  had  higher  ambitions  for  his  chil- 
dren, would  have  none  of  Brissot.^ 

The  one  offset  to  these  failures  and  disappointments  was  the 
kindness  of  Mentelle,  the  geographer.  This  Brissot  owed  di- 
rectly to  Madame  Dupont,  the  mother  of  Felicite.  She  had 
spoken  to  Brissot  of  Mentelle  as  an  old  friend  of  the  family, 
and  when  Brissot  returned  to  Paris  she  recommended  him  to 
Mentelle.  The  latter  responded  most  cordially,  invited  Brissot 
to  his  house,  and  introduced  him  to  his  friends.^ 

Just  at  this  juncture  he  was  called  home  by  the  last  illness  of 

1  Memoires,  i,  173-74. 

*  Ibid.,  I,  93.  Brissot  eventually  lost  faith  in  Linguet,  partly  because  he  mis- 
trusted that  Linguet's  kindness  was  not  altogether  disinterested  and  partly 
because  of  Linguet's  quarrels  with  the  encyclopedists.   {Ibid.,  i,  96-98.) 

'  Ibid.,  I,  177-78. 

*  Ibid.,  I,  178.  See  also  p.  388.  The  one  thing  which  Brissot  did  not  enjoy 
at  Mentelle's  house  was  the  concerts  which  Mentelle  occasionally  provided 
for  his  guests.  Brissot  admits  that  he  not  only  had  no  taste  for  music,  but  that 
it  was  actually  disagreeable  to  him. 


EARLY  LIFE  17 

his  father.  He  was  much  touched,  after  their  long  estrange- 
ment, to  receive  his  father's  benediction,  ^  but  the  softening  in- 
fluence of  the  occasion  was  marred  for  Brissot  by  the  presence 
at  the  deathbed  of  the  priests  to  whom  Brissot  felt  that  the 
estrangement  was  due.  He  felt,  too,  that  he  had  further  cause 
for  indignation.  His  mother  had  become  subject  to  violent 
attacks  of  insanity  during  which  she  imagined  herself  sur- 
rounded by  horrible  demons.  This  condition  Brissot  attributed, 
in  part,  to  the  influence  of  the  priests,  who  had  wrought  upon 
her  imagination  with  their  pictures  of  the  terrors  of  the  next 
world,  and  this  conviction  only  increased  his  cordial  hatred  of 
the  Church. 2 

He  now  returned  to  Paris.  Though  he  occasionally  got  into 
diflBculties  due,  if  his  own  account  is  to  be  believed,  to  a  too 
great  confidence  in  his  fellow  men,  he  was  able  to  continue 
extensive  studies  and  to  work  out  schemes  for  reform,  this  time 
under  pleasanter  conditions  and  with  happier  results.  The 
legacy  of  four  thousand  francs  which  he  received  from  his 
father,  small  though  it  was,  was  of  great  help.  The  study  of 
chemistry,  anatomy,  and  physics,  which  he  now  took  up  for 
the  first  time,  afforded  him  a  fascinating  field  of  investigation.' 
Through  Mentelle  he  secured  the  entree  to  the  best  literary  and 
scientific  circles;  and  his  own  scientific  studies  brought  him 
into  connection  with  men  of  note,  among  them  Chambon  ^  and 
Marat.  The  investigations  of  the  latter  in  physics  had  attracted 
his  attention;  and  when  Marat  announced  himself  an  apostle  of 
liberty,  Brissot  was  ready  to  become  his  friend.  With  the  im- 
petuous zeal  with  which  he  always  flung  himself  into  any  plan 
for  the  extension  of  knowledge,  Brissot  set  to  work  to  extend 
the  reputation  of  Marat,  both  as  a  physicist  and  a  physician, 
only  to  be  met,  according  to  Brissot's  account,  by  ingratitude 

1  His  father  died  December  24,  1779.  See  article  by  M.  A.  H.  Gibon,  ancien 
greffier  de  Chartres,  in  the  Journal  de  Chartres,  September  30,  1799,  quoted  en- 
tire in  Proces  verbaux  de  la  Societe  arcMohgique  d' Eure-et-Lair  x  121-23 
1901. 

2  Memoires,  i,  181-82.  3  /^^^^  j^  181-88. 
*  Chambon,  afterward  Mayor  of  Paris. 


18  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

and  by  demands  for  introductions  which  he  felt  he  could  not 
give.^ 

Brissot's  interests  were  not  confined,  however,  to  matters 
scientific.  Through  Mentelle  he  was  able  to  renew  his  acquaint- 
ance with  Felicite  Dupont.  As  her  engagement  was  broken 
and  there  was  now  no  obstacle  to  his  suit,  he  lost  no  time  in 
profiting  by  the  circumstance,  and  they  soon  became  engaged. 
Felicite  was  also  interested  in  science,  and  they  enjoyed  a 
charming  courtship  while  carrying  on  their  studies  together.  ^ 

He  was  most  anxious  to  hasten  his  marriage,  and  as  the  small 
inheritance  which  he  had  received  from  his  father  would  hardly 
enable  him  to  support  a  family,  he  determined  as  a  means  of 
increasing  his  income  to  seek  admission  to  the  bar.  He  accord- 
ingly took  up  the  study  of  law  again.   It  was  necessary  to  get 
certain  degrees  in  the  law  school,  but  as  that  was  a  mere  for- 
mality, he  took  the  usual  and  shorter  method  of  buying  them, 
but  he  soon  found  insupportable  the  long  novitiate  through 
which  he  must  pass  before  being  admitted  to  full  standing. 
Another  cause  was  his  lack  of  harmony  with  the  lawyers  of  the 
Parlement  of  Paris,  due,  according  to  his  own  account,  to  the 
radical  opinions  he  had  expressed  in  his  recent  writings.    He 
was  disgusted,  too,  he  declared,  with  the  pedantry  and  formal- 
ism of  the  system.   It  is  not  unlikely,  however,  that  indifferent 
success  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  his  disgust.   At  all 
events,  he  threw  up  the  whole  business  and  went  back  to  his 
scientific  and  philosophical  studies.    His  practical  experience 
only  accentuated  his  interest  in  the  theoretical  side  of  the  law 
and  strengthened  his  conviction  of  the  need  of  reform.   During 
the  three  years  of  his  second  residence  in  Paris,  he  wrote  much 
on  this  subject.   He  had  already  published,  at  the  time  of  his 
admission  to  the  bar,  his  Theorie  des  lots  criminelles,  and  it  was 
in  part  because  of  the  ideas  advanced  therein  that  he  did  not 
receive  a  cordial  welcome.^   The  work,  however,  was  warmly 

»  MSmoires,  i,  196-213;  also  Correspondance,  35-38. 

2  Memoir es,  i,  185.    For  the  details  of  this  charming  companionship,  see 
chap.  XIII.  '  Ibid.,  i,  194-95. 


EARLY  LIFE  19 

praised  by  various  writers  and  brought  him  into  pleasant, 
friendly  relations  with  several  prominent  men.  He  also  wrote 
two  essays  on  the  same  general  theme  in  competition  for  prizes 
offered  by  the  Academy  of  Chalons-sur-Marne  on  the  specific 
questions:  SHI  etait  du  des  indemnites  par  la  societe  a  un  accuse 
dont  V innocence  avail  He  reconnue;  and  Quelles  pourraient  etre  en 
France  les  lois  penales  les  moins  sever  es  et  cependant  les  plus  efficaces 
pour  contenir  et  reprimer  le  crime  par  des  chdtiments  prompts 
et  exemplaires  en  menageant  Vhonneur  et  la  liberie  des  citoyens.^ 
His  arguments  against  capital  punishment  and  in  favor  of  a 
more  humane  penal  code,  which  were  successful  in  winning  the 
prizes,  occasioned  a  furious  assault  from  the  Mercure.  Brissot 
thought  that  he  perceived  in  the  assault  the  hand  of  Lacretelle,^ 
but  the  satire  proved  to  be  the  work  of  Garat.^  Although  he 
was  much  hurt  at  the  time,  the  affair  resulted  in  a  pleasant  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  both  these  writers.  Another  prize 
offered  by  the  same  academy  for  an  essay  on  better  education, 
for  which  Brissot  likewise  competed,  led  to  his  election  to 
membership  in  the  academy.*  During  this  time  he  also  wrote 
Un  Independant  a  Vordre  des  avocats,  sur  la  decadence  du  harreau 
en  France,^  a  direct  attack  on  the  French  bar,  and  the  out- 
growth of  his  own  experience.  And  influenced  by  his  disgust  at 
the  quarrels  and  jealousy  among  men  of  letters,  of  which  he 
had  been  a  witness,  he  composed  a  treatise  called  De  la  Verite, 

^  Mimoires,  i,  228.  He  had  already  submitted  an  essay  to  the  Academy  of 
Besangon  on  Des  funestes  effets  de  Vego'isme,  but  received  only  honorable  men- 
tion. His  indignant  protests  suggest  that  he  himself  was  not  altogether  free 
from  the  malady  of  which  he  wrote.  See  his  correspondence  on  the  subject. 
Correspondance,  7-8. 

2  Brissot  does  not  say  which  Lacretelle,  probably  Pierre  Louis,  who  was  born 
in  1751  and  died  in  1824,  a  prominent  lawj'er,  wTiter,  and  politician,  and  friend 
of  Garat,  D'Alembert,  and  Condorcet.  He  was  especially  known  for  his  Dis- 
cours  sur  le  prejuge  des  peines  infamantes. 

^  Garat,  Dominique  Joseph,  born  1749,  died  1833.  A  writer  and  politician, 
was  connected  with  the  Mercure,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Constituent  As- 
sembly. He  was  made  Minister  of  Justice  after  the  10th  of  August,  1792,  but 
his  moderation  in  regard  to  the  massacres  of  September  led  to  a  break  with 
his  old  friends,  the  Girondins. 

*  Memoires,  i,  230-34.  ^  Brissot,  Bibliothique  philosophique,  vi,  344. 


20  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

ou  meditation  sur  les  moyens  de  parvenir  a  la  verite  dans  toutes 
les  connoissances  humaines.^  These  essays  he  meant  to  serve, 
however,  merely  as  prefaces  to  larger  works;  the  treatise  on 
criminal  law  was  to  be  followed  by  a  Histoire  universelle  de  la 
legislation  criminelle,  and  the  essay  on  La  Verite  by  a  search  for 
what  was  certain  in  all  human  knowledge.  In  the  mean  time, 
while  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  carry  out  these  ambitious 
plans,  he  began  a  compilation  of  material  on  criminal  legisla- 
tion, which  ultimately  reached  ten  volumes,  and  which  he 
called  a  Bibliotheque  philosophique  des  his  criminelles.^  Not 
content  with  merely  writing  against  abuses,  he  began  to  cogi- 
tate on  methods  of  furthering  the  attack  by  organized  effort. 
His  idea,  which  he  seems  to  have  borrowed  directly  from  La 
Blancherie,^  was  to  assail  despotism  and  to  spread  abroad  ideas 
of  political,  as  well  as  of  legal  reform,  by  means  of  an  organiza- 
tion of  the  savants  and  reformers  of  all  Europe.^  This  organi- 
zation was  to  be  called  a  Lycee,  and  was  to  consist  of  three 
parts,  a  correspondence  between  members,  a  special  publica- 
tion on  the  arts  and  sciences  in  England,  and  meetings  which 
were  to  be  held  at  the  local  office  in  London.  From  that  center 
of  freedom  the  members  of  the  society  were  to  "inundate 
Europe"  with  their  writings  against  despotism. 

But  in  order  to  "inundate  Europe"  Brissot  needed  coopera- 
tion and  financial  support.  After  some  more  or  less  cautious 
sounding  of  various  persons  on  the  subject,  he  found  in  a  certain 
Villar  ^  apparently  just  the  man  he  wanted.    Villar,  although 

1  Memoires,  i,  189. 

2  Ibid.,  I,  220,  226.  See  his  correspondence  with  Droz,  the  secretary  of  the 
Academy  of  Besangon,  on  the  subject.     Correspondance,  11-19. 

*  La  Blancherie  was  born  in  1752  and  died  in  1811.  He  was  known  especially 
as  the  founder  of  the  Nouvelles  de  la  republique  des  lettres  et  des  arts.  "  C'etait 
Vorgane  d'une  sorte  de  cercle  artistique  et  scientifique  destinS  clfournir  aux  savanta 
et  aux  artistes  un  centre  de  ralliement." 

*  Memoires,  i,  191. 

^  Ibid.,  I,  239-42.  Villar,  Noel  Gabriel  Luce  de,  was  born  in  Toulouse  in 
1748  and  died  in  Paris  in  1826.  In  1791  he  was  made  constitutional  bishop  of 
Mayenne  and  later  was  a  deputy  from  that  department  to  the  Convention. 
His  chief  work  during  the  Convention  was  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Public  Instruction. 


EARLY  LIFE  21 

not  a  writer  himself,  had  a  wide  acquaintance  with  men  of  let- 
ters and  professed  himself  eager  to  use  all  his  interest  in  Bris- 
sot's  behalf.  He  had  relations  with  all  kinds  of  people  and  in 
many  countries.  He  was  most  optimistic.  Russian  counts, 
Polish  princesses,  academicians  and  ambassadors  alike,  he  was 
sure,  would  hasten  to  support  the  project.  D'Alembert  had 
written  to  Berlin,  D'Argental  to  Tuscany;  ^  some  one  else  had 
written  to  La  Harpe,^  and  had  recommended  him  to  Russian 
friends ;  Madame  de  Genlis  ^  had  spoken  in  his  behalf  to  the 
Duke  of  Chartres,  who  was  just  about  to  start  for  Italy  and  who 
would  further  his  plans  there.  Villar  had  audiences  every  day 
with  the  ministers,  and  if  need  be  he  would  speak  directly  to  the 
king.  Finally,  he  introduced  Brissot  to  £lie  de  Beaumont,^  who 
declared  that  he  was  enchanted  with  Brissot's  plan,  and  that  he 
too  was  only  waiting  for  the  right  opportunity  to  use  his  pen 
and  his  fortune  to  overthrow  despotism.  They  would  found  a 
society,  they  would  restore  liberty  to  France,  they  would  bind 
each  other  by  the  strongest  oaths,  they  would  seal  the  project 
with  their  blood. 

Full  of  confidence  in  these  promises  Brissot  immediately  be- 
gan to  put  his  plans  into  operation.  The  first  step  was  to  pro- 
vide for  cooperation  in  Switzerland,  and  he  accordingly  set  out 

1  D'Argental,  Charles  Augustus  de  Ferrol,  comte,  was  born  in  1700  and  died 
in  1788.  He  was  a  diplomat  and  man  of  letters  and  was  chiefly  known  as  a  life- 
long friend  of  Voltaire. 

2  La  Harpe,  Jean  Frangois  de,  was  born  in  1739  and  died  in  1803.  He  was 
celebrated  for  his  dramatic  and  literary  criticism  in  the  Mercure  and  for  his  lec- 
tures on  literature. 

*  Genlis,  Stephanie  FeHcite  du  Crest  de  Saint-Aubin,  comtesse  de,  born  in 
1746,  died  in  1830.  At  an  extremely  early  age  she  showed  great  versatility.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  she  married  De  Genlis,  who  afterward  became  the  Marquis 
de  Sillery,  and,  through  her  husband's  connection  with  the  house  of  Orleans, 
she  came  to  be  charged  with  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  Duke  of 
Chartres.  With  all  her  other  natural  endowments  Madame  de  Genlis  had  the 
gift  of  being  a  successful  teacher,  and  carried  on  her  work  ■with  originality 
and  great  success.  Having  accompanied  Madame  Adelaide  to  England,  she 
was  proscribed  as  an  emigree,  but  subsequently  was  allowed  to  return  to 
France. 

*  Memoires,  i,  240-41 .  Elie  de  Beaumont  was  a  lawyer  of  some  reputation, 
chiefly  known  for  his  memoir  on  the  Galas  case. 


22  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

for  Neuchdtel.^  But  while  on  the  way  he  received  news  from 
Geneva  which  changed  his  plans.  A  civil  war  had  broken  out 
in  that  city  between  the  aristocratic  and  democratic  factions,  — 
a  war  complicated  by  the  interference  of  the  French  on  the  side 
of  the  aristocratic  party.  It  was  now  reported  that  the  com- 
bined enemies  of  France  —  Berne  and  Savoy  —  were  about 
to  besiege  the  city,  whereupon  Brissot,  getting  excited  by  the 
chance  of  actually  seeing  a  people  in  active  revolt,  set  off  post- 
haste for  Geneva,  only  fearing  that  he  might  not  get  there  be- 
fore the  siege  should  begin.  He  had  been  urged  to  come  by 
D'lvernais,  the  Swiss  politician  and  economist,-  who  gave  him 
a  warm  welcome  and  introduced  him  to  the  leaders  of  the  pop- 
ular party,  among  whom  were  Duroveray  ^  and  Claviere.'*  He 
was  deeply  impressed  by  the  bravery  of  the  people,  and  their 
efforts  to  gain  their  political  sovereignty,  and  before  he  had 
been  in  the  city  forty-eight  hours  he  had  prepared  an  address 
to  "its  intrepid  inhabitants  to  encourage  them  to  a  vigorous 
defense."  ^  The  lasting  results  of  this  experience  upon  Brissot 
were  an  account  which  he  wrote  shortly  afterward,  under  the 
title  of  Le  Philadelphien  a  Geneve,^  a  lifelong  enmity  with 
Mallet  du  Pan,^  and  a  lifelong  friendship  with  Claviere.* 
On  his  return  to  Paris  he  was  quietly  married,  on  the  17th  of 

1  Memoires,  i,  244. 

2  Ibid.,  I,  269.  D'lvernais,  Sir  Francis  de,  a  Genevese  politician  and  econo- 
mist, born  in  1757,  died  in  1842.  He  was  exiled  from  Geneva  in  1782  and  went 
to  England.  At  the  time  of  the  fall  of  Napoleon  he  returned  and  represented 
Geneva  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna. 

^  Duroveray  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs  of  Geneva  and  drew  up  a 
code  of  laws  for  the  city.  He  was  afterward  a  friend  and  collaborator  of  Mira- 
beau. 

*  Claviere,  Etienne,  financier  and  politician,  born  in  1755,  died  in  1793.  He 
wrote  in  collaboration  with  Mirabeau  on  financial  subjects  and  became  a  life- 
long friend  of  Brissot.  He  was  made  Minister  of  Finance  under  the  first  Giron- 
din  Ministry,  and,  after  August  10,  1792,  was  one  of  the  provisional  executive 
council  and  from  that  time  shared  the  fortunes  of  the  Girondin  party. 

^  Memoires,  i,  275.  ®  Ibid.,  i,  271.     Also  see  p.  25. 

^  See  Mallet  du  Pan  and  the  French  Revolution,  by  Mallet,  50.  Mallet  du  Pan, 
Jacques,  born  1749,  died  1800,  was  a  Swiss  publicist.  He  was  connected  with 
the  Mercure,  and  in  the  Revolution  espoused  the  royalist  cause. 

*  Memoires,  i,  27 i. 


EARLY  LIFE  23 

September,  1782,  to  Felicite  Dupont.^  Felicite  at  this  time  was 
employed  under  Madame  de  Genlis  in  the  family  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  in  the  capacity  of  under-governess."  Until  his  es- 
tablishment at  London  was  well  started,  it  did  not  seem  best 
for  Felicite  to  accompany  her  husband,  and  partially  with  a 
view  to  retaining  her  position  in  the  mean  time,  the  marriage 
was  kept  a  secret.  Although  Felicite  had  little  influence  on  his 
political  life,  in  domestic  life  she  never  failed  to  be  the  good 
comrade  and  helpful  wife  which  her  devotion  in  the  days  of  her 
engagement  had  promised.  Moreover,  in  her  family  he  found 
the  comradeship  which  he  had  missed  in  his  own  family  circle, 
and  in  her  mother  a  real  friend.^ 

The  first  proof  of  her  friendship  was  to  furnish  him  with 
money  for  his  new  enterprise.  For,  although  Villar  and  Beau- 
mont were  as  voluble  as  ever  in  their  promises  of  support,  they 
did  not  produce  any  ready  money,  and  such  funds  as  he  had  to 
meet  his  immediate  expenses  were  furnished  by  Madame  Du- 
pont.*  The  question  of  money  aside,  his  undertaking  was  a  de- 
cidedly presumptuous  one  for  a  young  man,  not  yet  thirty,  who 
was  but  little  known  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  particularly 
in  England.  But  with  his  usual  sublime  confidence  in  success 
he  set  forth. 

Aside  from  the  outcome  of  the  Lycee,  his  residence  in  Eng- 
land had  two  important  results:  it  brought  him  into  relations 
with  several  discredited  fellow  countrymen  which  later  turned 
out  to  be  most  unfortunate,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  gave 
him  the  opportunity  of  meeting  various  Englishmen  of  note, 
and  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  English  political  institutions. 
Among  these  fellow  countrymen  of  more  or  less  unsavory  repu- 
tation, Brissot  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  individual  named 
Pelleport,  which  was  to  cost  him  an  accusation  for  wTiting  a 

^  See  record  of  the  marriage  in  archives  of  the  Department  of  the  Seine. 

*  This  connection  was  afterward  made  much  of  by  Brissot's  enemies,  who 
wanted  to  prove  that  he  was  devoted  to  the  house  of  Orleans.  See  Memoires, 
n,  15. 

^  Ihid.,  I,  300-01.  For  the  character  of  FeUcite  and  the  details  of  their  life, 
see  chap.  xiii.  ^  Ihid.,  i,  300. 


24  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

libel;  of  a  certain  Receveur,  a  spy  in  the  employment  of  the 
French  police,  who,  according  to  Brissot's  account,  was  in  part 
at  least  responsible  for  his  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille;  and  of 
the  well-known  libelist,  Theveneau  de  Morande,  to  whom  Bris- 
sot  took  a  strong  dislike  and  who  afterwards  became  his  bitter 
and  persistent  enemy.  ^  His  dislike  for  Morande  was  so  in- 
tense that  when  the  publicist,  Swinton,  his  former  employer,^ 
offered  him  the  position  of  manager  of  the  Courrier  on  condition 
that  Morande  be  his  colleague,  he  refused  the  offer  and  broke 
with  Swinton.  According  to  the  account  which  Brissot  gives 
in  his  memoirs,  his  feeling  was  due  to  the  extremely  bad  reputa- 
tion of  the  latter  as  a  libel  writer,^  but  this  explanation  seems 
hardly  adequate.  A  further  and  more  satisfactory  explana- 
tion is  given  by  Petion,  who  evidently  obtained  his  information 
directly  from  Brissot,  to  the  effect  that  certain  articles  had  been 
inserted  in  the  Courrier  without  his  knowledge,  articles  which 
directly  contradicted  his  principles,  and  for  which  he  was  made 
to  appear  responsible.  The  discovery  that  Morande  was  the 
author  aroused  his  lasting  hatred,  and  led  to  his  refusal  to  have 
anything  more  to  do  with  him.  Whether  or  not  this  is  the  en- 
tire explanation,  Morande  in  his  wrath  swore  mortal  hatred 
against  Brissot,  the  result  of  which  Brissot  was  later  to  know  to 
his  lasting  sorrow.^ 

Meanwhile,  through  his  journalistic  work  and  his  personal 
efforts  he  was  niaking  a  number  of  more  creditable  acquaint- 
ances among  people  of  note,  among  whom  were  Kirwan  the 
chemist;  Maty  the  scientist;  Fanny  Burney  the  novelist,  whom 
he  greatly  admired;  and  Mrs.  Macaulay  the  political  pamphlet- 
eer and  historian,  with  whose  radical  views  he  was  already  in 
sympathy. 5    He  also  met  Priestly,  Price,  Mansfield,  Gibbon, 

*  Mimoires,  i,  318.  ^  ggg  p   14  3  Memoires,  i,  314,  317. 

*  Petion,  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  les  Girondins,  11, 
227. 

^  M6moires,  i,  349-59.  Perroud  suggests  that  these  references  to  his  acquaint- 
ances in  London  may  have  been  drawn  from  the  periodicals  which  Brissot  pub- 
lished at  this  time,  and  that  they  did  not  form  part  of  his  actual  memoirs. 
Ibid.,  I,  354,  note. 


EARLY  LIFE  25 

John  Adams,  David  Williams,  and  Jeremy  Bentham.  The  last 
two  he  especially  admired.  "Williams,"  he  declared,  "of  all 
the  Englishmen  of  letters  seems  to  me  the  one  who  has  the 
most  universal  philosophy,  who  is  the  most  free  from  all  na- 
tional prejudices."  With  Bentham  he  was  on  terms  of  some 
intimacy,  corresponded  with  him,  and  went  frequently  to  see 
him.^  With  such  acquaintances  he  had  unusual  opportunities 
for  studying  at  first  hand  English  political  conditions. 

In  the  midst  of  these  manifold  interests  Brissot  also  found 
time  to  publish  a  criticism  of  St.  Paul,  called  Lettres  philoso- 
phiques  sur  Saint  Paid,  and  to  complete  Le  Philadelphien  a 
Geneve,  the  work  inspired  by  his  sojourn  at  Geneva  during  the 
revolution.^  Meantime  he  began  to  find  the  separation  from 
his  wife  insupportable,  and  in  the  summer  of  1783  he  sent  for 
her  to  join  him  in  London.^ 

All  this  time  he  was  struggling  to  put  the  Lycee  on  a  firm 
footing.  The  original  promoters  having  left  him  in  the  lurch,^ 
money  for  the  enterprise  was  finally  furnished  by  a  man  named 
Desforges,  whom  he  had  first  met  at  Mentelle's.^  According  to 
Brissot's  own  account,  —  with  which,  however,  Desforges  does 
not  agree,  —  it  was  Desforges  who  took  the  initiative  and 
eagerly  pressed  funds  upon  him,  while  Brissot  himself,  doubting 
whether  Desforges  was  capable  of  appreciating  the  noble  mo- 
tives which  actuated  him  in  the  enterprise,  hesitated.  Brissot 
further  declares  that  from  the  first  moment  of  his  acquaint- 
ance with  Desforges  he  was  suspicious  of  him,  though  this  may 
be  a  case  of  being  a  "prophet  after  the  fact."  At  all  events, 
they  came  to  an  understanding.  It  was  agreed  that  Desforges 
was  to  furnish  fifteen  thousand  francs,  of  which,  however,  he 
paid  down  only  ten  or  twelve  thousand,  and  a  contract  was 

1  Mimoires,  i,  364-66.  See  also  letters  of  Brissot  to  Bentham.  Correspond- 
ance,  58,  59,  64.  Later  during  the  course  of  the  Revolution  Brissot  was  instru- 
mental in  getting  the  Legislative  Assembly  to  declare  both  Williams  and  Ben- 
tham French  citizens  (Monitenr,  August  28,  1792),  and  in  having  Williams 
invited  to  come  over  to  France  to  aid  the  committee  of  the  Convention  which 
was  engaged  in  drawing  up  a  constitution.   See  also  Correspondance,  305-06. 

2  See  p.  22.         ^  See  p.  390.         *  See  p.  391.        »  Memoires,  i,  235-36. 


26  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

drawn  up,  in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  the  Lyc^e  was  to  be 
continued  for  at  least  seven  years,  and  was  to  consist  of  three 
branches,  an  assembly,  a  correspondence,  and  a  journal  of  the 
arts  and  sciences  in  England.^  But  this  "universal  confedera- 
tion" of  the  friends  of  liberty  and  of  truth,  as  Brissot  called  it, 
was  a  complete  failure.  He  had  already  printed  a  couple  of 
volumes  of  the  Correspondance,  but  the  publisher  absorbed  all 
the  profits  of  the  edition  printed  in  Germany,  and  not  a  single 
copy  was  allowed  to  enter  France.^ 

He  now  announced  the  journal  or  magazine  which  was  to  be 
entitled  Tableau  exact  des  sciences  et  des  arts  en  Angleterre,  but 
unfortunately  he  scorned  all  the  ordinary  means  of  making  a 
journal  attractive,  and  too  frankly  announced  that  its  one 
object  was  to  be  useful.^  The  newspapers  did  not  mention  the 
prospectus,  and  very  few  persons  paid  any  attention  to  it.  He 
was  still  hopeful,  however,  and  in  a  vain  attempt  to  attract  sub- 
scribers he  prepared  a  Tableau  des  Indes,  which  he  distributed 
gratis  to  the  few  who  did  support  the  establishment.  It  re- 
mained to  provide  a  place  for  the  meetings  of  the  society.  The 
house  where  he  was  living  contained  no  room  sufficiently  large 
for  the  purpose,  but  his  friend  David  Williams  offered  to  share 
with  him  the  hall  where  he  himself  was  then  giving  lectures. 
Unfortunately,  however,  Brissot  had  no  money  left  with  which 
to  pay  his  share  of  the  expense  —  nearly  eight  thousand  livres. 
He  accordingly  applied  to  Desforges  for  the  remainder  of  the 
fifteen  thousand  francs,  which  he  had  not  yet  paid,  but  to  his 
consternation  found  him  unwilling  to  pay. 

Troubles  now  began  to  come  thick  and  fast.  He  had  no  ade- 
quate means  of  providing  for  his  family,  recently  increased  by 
the  birth  of  a  son.^  Desforges,  who  had  arrived  from  France, 
proved  at  this  juncture  a  most  unwelcome  guest.  Moreover, 
Desforges  was  discontented  with  the  lack  of  returns,  and  not 
only  refused  to  furnish  the  remainder  of  the  money  promised, 
but  requested  a  dissolution  of  the  society,  and  loudly  demanded 
the  return  of  the  money  he  had  already  invested;  and  to  crown 
1  Memoires,  i,  339-42.      ^  Ibid.,  i,  329.     »  Ibid.,  i.  339.    *  Ibid.,  i,  389-92. 


EARLY  LIFE  27 

Brissot's  misfortunes,  within  a  few  days  after  the  birth  of  his 
child,  while  his  wife  was  still  very  ill,  he  was  arrested  at  the  in- 
stigation of  his  printer,  and  thrown  into  prison  for  debt.  After 
a  brief  imprisonment,  during  which  he  suffered  torturing  anx- 
iety lest  his  wife  or  child  might  die  in  his  absence,  he  managed, 
through  the  help  of  friends  and  of  Madame  Dupont,  to  satisfy 
his  creditors,  and  was  released.  But  he  was  at  the  end  of  his 
resources  in  London,  and,  much  as  he  hated  to  leave  his  wife,  he 
had  to  set  out  for  France  at  once,  in  order  to  try  to  raise  funds.  ^ 
As  the  climax  to  his  misfortunes,  shortly  after  his  arrival  in 
Paris,  on  July  12,  1784,  he  was  arrested  and  thrown  into  the 
Bastille,  charged  with  being  implicated  in  the  production  of 
certain  libels. ^  His  first  thought  was  for  his  wife,  who,  he 
feared,  might  not  be  able  to  survive  the  shock  at  hearing  what 
had  befallen  him.  In  his  distress  he  appealed  to  his  mother- 
in-law.  Madame  Dupont  was  equal  to  the  occasion.  In  order  to 
forestall  any  possible  reports  which  might  reach  her  daughter, 
she  refused  to  wait  for  the  ordinary  boat  and  risked  crossing 
the  Channel  in  a  small  launch.  Though  somewhat  consoled 
by  the  presence  of  his  mother-in-law  with  Felicite,  he  still 
feared  the  machinations  of  his  enemies.  His  imprisonment  he 
was  sure  was  due  to  them  —  to  the  denunciations  of  Swinton, 
who  had  held  Brissot's  establishment  responsible  for  loss  of 
subscriptions  to  the  Courrier;  to  Morande  and  Pelleport,  who 
were  in  turn  incited  by  Desforges,  whose  motive  was  to  profit 
by  Brissot's  detention  to  settle  to  his  own  taste  the  affairs  of 
the  Lycee.^ 

Desforges  had  already  accused  Brissot  of  having  swindled 
him,  and  had  threatened,  if  he  did  not  pay  the  sum  demanded, 
to  denounce  him  as  a  disseminator  of  libels.  Meanwhile  Brissot 
had  accused  Desforges  of  libel  and  of  having  insisted,  in  spite  of 
strenuous  objections,  on  taking  up  his  abode  in  Brissot's  house.* 
Desforges  now  carried  out  his  threat  and  the  result  was  two 

1  Memoires,  i,  391-95. 

^  Ibid.,  II,  5-7.   See  also  Funck-Brentano,  Les  Lettres  de  cachet  a  Paris,  413. 

*  Memoires,  ii,  6-8.  *  Replique  de  ThSveneau  de  Morande,  100-04. 


28  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

suits;  one  in  the  civil,  the  other  in  the  criminal  courts.  These 
suits  were  brought  in  ITS-i;  and  in  1791,  when  Brissot  was  a 
candidate  for  election  to  the  Legislative  Assembly,  they  were 
still  pending.^ 

The  whole  affair  was  then  raked  up  afresh  by  Theveneau  de 
Morande.-  He  revived  the  charge  made  by  Desforges  and  de- 
clared that  it  was  true  that  Brissot  had  swindled  Desforges  out 
of  fifteen  thousand  livres.  Desforges  was  the  dupe  and  the  vic- 
tim, he  asserted.  In  the  first  place,  Brissot  had  inveigled  Des- 
forges into  investing  his  funds,  and  in  order  to  do  this  he  had 
deceived  him  as  to  the  state  of  his  own  finances.  In  proof  of 
this  assertion  Desforges  adduced  a  letter  of  Brissot's,  in  which 
he  declared  that  his  father  was  worth  two  hundred  thousand 
livres  and  that  on  his  father's  death  he  was  sure  to  receive 
thirty  thousand  livres.  Morande  then  put  this  letter  in  con- 
trast with  another  letter  of  Brissot's,  in  which  he  admitted  that 
he  had  nothing,  and  that  he  could  count  on  nothing  from  his 
parents.  Alorande  further  declared  that  the  Lycee  never  ex- 
isted at  all,  that  Brissot  rented  a  house  too  small  for  the  assem- 
bly which  was  to  form  so  important  a  part  of  the  Lycee, '^  and 
that  he  and  his  family  lived  at  the  expense  of  the  society.^  In 
substantiation  of  the  last  charge,  Morande  cited  a  statement 
from  Brissot's  accounts,  in  which  the  expenses  of  the  society 
were  set  down  in  lump  sums.  As  for  the  charge  that  Desforges 
had  thrown  himself  upon  Brissot's  household,  he  had  remained 
there  only  to  prevent  the  sale  of  the  furniture.^ 

In  reply  to  these  allegations  Brissot  declared  that  the  anxiety 
to  embark  in  the  enterprise  was  all  on  the  side  of  Desforges; 
that  at  first  Desforges  was  ready  to  lend  forty  thousand  livres, 
when  he  was  asked  for  only  ten  thousand.  The  discrepancy  in 
the  two  accounts  of  his  prospects  he  explained  by  showing  that 
one  was  written  before,  the  other  after,  the  death  of  his  father.® 

1  Petion,  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Vatel,  ii,  230-31,  note. 

2  See  p.  219.  '  lUpliqne  de  Theveneau  de  Morande. 

*  Ibid.,  68;  Lettre  aux  Sledeurs,  15.       ^  R^pUque,  11,  94. 

*  Although  in  his  memoirs  the  account  of  Brissot's  connection  with  Des- 


EARLY  LIFE  29 

The  charge  that  the  Lycee  never  existed  he  met  by  declaring 
that  it  was  agreed  upon  that  the  Lycee  was  to  consist  of  three 
parts,  and  as  two  of  the  three  —  the  Correspondance,  and  the 
Journal  of  arts  and  sciences  —  were  estabhshed,  the  absence  of 
the  third  —  the  assembly  —  did  not  prove  that  the  Lycee  did 
not  exist.  As  for  his  expenses,  after  having  charged  Desforges 
with  juggling  with  the  figures  so  as  to  convey  a  false  impression, 
he  produced  an  itemized  account  which  very  nearly  covered 
the  sum  in  question,  and  offered  to  show  his  receipts.  That  his 
family  had  lived  at  the  expense  of  the  society  he  absolutely 
denied.^  He  then  accused  Desforges  of  having  libeled  him,  of 
having  persisted  in  staying  in  his  house  during  his  imprison- 
ment in  the  Bastille,  and  of  having  insulted  his  wife,  mother- 
in-law,  and  sister-in-law. 

The  question  is:  In  view  of  the  evidence  submitted  on  both 
sides,  was  or  was  not  Brissot  guilty  of  fraud?  Of  the  charges 
there  are  two  points  on  which  he  does  not  clear  himself.  The 
letter  which  he  wrote  to  Desforges,  setting  forth  his  prospects, 
could  hardly  be  justified,  even  on  the  plea  of  extreme  opti- 
mism, since  he  was  on  bad  terms  with  his  father,  and  in  any 
case  was  but  one  of  a  number  of  heirs.  Again,  his  defense  that 
the  Lycee  existed  because  the  Correspondance  and  the  Journal 
had  been  established,  was  in  the  nature  of  quibbling,  since 
Morande  had  used  the  term  Lycee  to  mean  the  assembly, 
which  clearly  did  not  exist.  Moreover,  there  are  two  charges 
which  he  admits  —  that  he  did  rent  a  house  too  small  for  the 
meetings  of  the  assembly,  though  it  served  as  an  office;  and 
that  he  furnished  the  house  at  the  expense  of  the  society. ^ 

On  the  other  hand,  Brissot  did  succeed  in  showing  that  Des- 
forges alone  was  to  be  responsible  for  the  funds,  and  that,  as  he 
himself  had  contributed  out  of  his  own  pocket,  he  was  the  cred- 
itor, not  the  debtor;  that  Desforges  had  refused  arbitration 
and  had  approved  his  accounts.^  It  is  also  to  be  taken  into 

forges  follows  the  account  of  the  death  of  his  father,  there  is  nothing  to  show 
that  he  had  not  made  his  acquaintance  before  that  time. 

1  Replique  de  Brissot.  2  /^-(^ ^  4_i9_  3  7^^^^  4_8. 


30  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

consideration  that  Desforges's  side  of  the  matter  is  presented 
by  Theveneau  de  ]\Iorande,  a  professional  hbel  writer.^  Indeed, 
according  to  Vatel,  Desforges  tried  to  restrain  Morande,  and 
even  disavowed  some  of  his  utterances. ^  And  finally,  if  the  ar- 
rangement was  not  a  loan,  but  a  partnership,  as  it  had  every 
appearance  of  being,  and  as  it  was  evidently  regarded,  Des- 
forges would  have  but  doubtful  claim  to  the  money  he  had  in- 
vested. That  Brissot  misused  the  money  is  probable,  but  that 
he  deliberately  planned  to  defraud  Desforges  is  hardly  credible. 
That  Desforges  was  directly  responsible  for  Brissot's  impris- 
onment in  the  Bastille  is  also  a  matter  of  doubt.  The  formal 
charge  brought  against  him  was  that  he  had  written  libelous 
pamphlets  against  Marie  Antoinette,  and  especially  that  he 
had  had  part  in  the  production  and  circulation  of  a  pamphlet 
entitled  Le  Viable  dans  un  benitier.^  The  latter  did  not  concern 

^  In  his  early  youth  Morande  was  involved  in  various  scandals  and  in- 
trigues, which  led  to  his  imprisonment  by  lettres  de  cachet.  On  his  release  he  fled 
to  England;  there  he  devoted  himself  to  writing  violent  libels  on  various  per- 
sons of  prominence  in  France.  His  unexpected  success  suggested  to  him  a  new 
means  of  livelihood  and  he  proceeded  to  engage  in  a  system  of  blackmail.  His 
most  successful  effort  in  this  line  was  an  infamous  attack  on  Madame  Du  Barry, 
for  the  suppression  of  which  he  demanded  a  large  sum  from  the  French  Court. 
He  managed  to  foil  the  attempts  of  the  police  sent  to  arrest  him,  and  as  a  last 
resource  Louis  XV  entrusted  the  affair  to  Beaumarchais,  who  was  obliged  to 
pay  Morande  twenty  thousand  livres  and  a  pension  of  four  thousand  hvres  for 
the  suppression  of  the  libel.  Not  long  after  this  episode  he  was  hired  by  Louis 
XVI  as  a  police  agent  in  England  to  suppress  libels,  evidently  on  the  principle 
of  "  set  a  thief  to  catch  a  thief."  During  the  Revolution  he  returned  to  France, 
where  in  1791  he  founded  the  Argus  patriote,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  royalty, 
thus  becoming  the  ally  of  the  monarchy  which,  earUer  in  his  career,  he  had 
insulted.     See  Theveneau  de  Morande,  by  Robiquet. 

2  Vatel,  II,  231,  note. 

*  Brissot,  Reponse  cl  tons  les  libellisies,  40.  See  also  Memoires,  i,  31S-17;  and 
Funck-Brentano,  Les  Lettres  de  cachet  a  Paris,  413.  "Brissot  de  Warville 
(Jacques  Pierre)  avocat  au  Parlement.  Entre  le  12  juillet,  1784,  sur  ordre  contre- 
sign6  Breteuil.  Pour  libelles.  Sorti  le  10  septembre,  17 8^,  sur  ordre  contresignS 
Breteuil."  Also  see  Petion,  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  lea 
Girondins,  ii,  228.  "Cette  detention  avail  pour  pritexte  de  pretendues  liaisons 
avec  un  nomme  belleport  [sic],  ce  beUcport  avail  public  d,  Londre  un  libelle  infame 
contre  la  Reine  def ranee  et  on  voulut  bien  supposer  que  Brissot  avail  travaille  d.  ce 
libelle."  Petion  evidently  confuses  here  Le  Diable  dans  un  benilier  with  the 
libels  against  the  queen. 


EARLY  LIFE  31 

the  queen,  but  was  an  arraignment  of  Receveur  and  Theveneau 
de  Morande  as  spies  of  the  French  pohce  and  was  afterward 
made  much  of  by  Morande  in  his  attack  on  Brissot.  The 
explanation  given  by  Brissot  was  that  Pelleport,  in  exaspera- 
tion because  Receveur  had  refused  to  pay  the  price  demanded 
for  a  hbel  on  Marie  Antoinette  which  he  (Pelleport)  claimed  to 
have  in  his  possession,  had  published  this  satire,  Le  Diable  dans 
un  benitier,  against  Receveur  and  Receveur's  protege  Mo- 
rande. But  that  he  himself  had  any  part,  either  in  the  libel  on 
the  queen  or  in  the  satire,  Brissot  indignantly  denied.  He  as- 
serted that,  on  the  contrary,  he  had  done  his  best  to  induce 
Pelleport  to  give  up  his  traffic  in  libels  and  to  suppress  the 
satire.^ 

This  explanation  is  in  large  part  corroborated  by  certain  re- 
ports at  the  Minisiere  des  affaires  etrangeres  at  Paris.  It  seems 
that  the  affair  of  the  libels  against  Marie  Antoinette  dated 
from  the  year  before,  and  for  some  time  Brissot's  name  figured 
in  the  reports  of  the  police  spies  on  the  matter.^  He  was  sus- 
pected of  being  the  joint  author,^  and  further  was  represented 
by  Receveur  in  a  report  to  Lenoir  as  the  possible  author  also 
of  some  of  the  letters  written  by  Pelleport  in  the  course  of  his 
attempts  to  traffic  with  the  Government.^  Lenoir,  however, 
was  not  inclined  to  put  much  faith  in  Receveur's  suspicions. 

1  Memoires,  i,  321;  also  Replique,  26.  According  to  Robiquet  {Theveneau  de 
Morande,  64)  the  authorship  of  Le  Diable  dans  un  benitier  has  never  been  defi- 
nitely fixed  and  has  even  been  attributed  to  Morande  himself.  At  all  events, 
the  whole  matter  is  of  interest  as  throwing  light  on  the  police  spy  system  of 
the  Old  Regime.  Receveur  and  Morande,  both  men  of  more  than  doubtful 
reputation,  and  the  latter  himself  a  libelist,  were  hired  by  the  French  Govern- 
ment to  find  the  sources  of  certain  libels  against  the  queen  and  to  pay  for  their 
suppression.  Brissot's  statement  that  Receveur  refused  to  pay  Pelleport  five 
hundred  louis,  seems  probable  in  view  of  Robiquet's  statement  that  Receveur 
had  only  two  hundred  guineas  with  which  to  make  the  purchase.  See  Rece- 
veur's own  statement  in  his  report  to  the  French  Ambassador,  of  May  22, 1783. 
(Aff.  etrangeres,  Angleterre,  542,  f.  278.)  In  the  same  report  Receveur  speaks  of 
Pelleport  ha\'ing  showed  to  Brissot  this  libel  against  the  queen. 

^  See  Aff.  Etrangeres,  Angleterre,  542,  f.  278. 

'  See  Notefaite  a  la  hate,  April  21, 1783.  Aff.  etrangeres,  Angleterre,  542,  f.  79. 

*  Lenoir  au  Comte  de  Vergennes,  May  4,  1783.  Aff.  etrangeres,  Angleterre, 
542,  f.  183.   Also  Compte  rendu  par  Receveur,  May  22,  1783,  542,  f.  278. 


32  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Because  Brissot  was  acquainted  with  various  refugees,  Lenoir 
declared,  Receveur  had  jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  Brissot 
was  also  a  refugee.  Receveur's  suspicions,  moreover,  were  per- 
haps quickened  by  the  personal  grudge  which  he  bore  against 
him.  At  all  events,  the  affair  blew  over  so  far  as  Brissot  was 
concerned  till  it  was  again  brought  up  against  him  as  a  reason 
for  his  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille. 

As  for  Le  Diable  dans  un  benitier,  the  whole  evidence  against 
Brissot  consisted,  first,  in  a  certificate  by  a  printer's  assistant 
to  the  effect  that  Brissot  had  corrected  the  proofs  of  Le  Diahle, 
and  second,  in  a  letter  written  by  a  man  named  Vingtain,  in 
which  arrangements  were  referred  to  for  the  distribution  of  the 
pamphlet.^  In  answer,  Brissot  adduced  a  report  of  the  matter 
made  by  the  Minister  Breteuil  in  which  the  certificate  that 
Brissot  had  corrected  the  proofs  was  stated  to  be  of  doubtful 
value.  2  The  other  piece  of  evidence  Brissot  apparently  did  not 
try  to  disprove.  Moreover,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  he  cor- 
dially disliked  both  Morande  and  Receveur.  It  seems  not  im- 
probable, therefore,  that  he  was  guilty  of  having  assisted  in  the 
circulation  of  the  pamphlet.  Nor  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  con- 
sidering that  they  in  turn  cordially  disliked  him,  that  they  may 
have  had  something  to  do  with  instigating  his  arrest. 

But  whether  guilty  or  not,  two  months,  which  seemed  to  him 
two  centuries,  passed  before  he  could  obtain  his  release.  All 
this  time  his  family  and  friends  —  the  number  of  whom  was  a 
tribute  to  the  interest  he  had  inspired  —  were  exerting  their  ut- 
most efforts  in  his  behalf.  Loyseau,  the  distinguished  jurist, 
wrote  to  an  influential  woman  of  his  acquaintance,  asking  her 
in  turn  to  get  the  Prince  de  Conti  ^  to  write  to  the  commandant, 
Delaunay;  Mentelle  urged  Madame  Genlis-Sillery  to  work 
through  the  Duke  of  Chartres,  while  various  literary  men,  both 
in  England  and  France,  including  Condorcet,  Bernardin  de 

1  Replique  de  Theveneau  de  Morande,  58,  106. 

^  Reponse  de  Brissot,  19-20. 

3  Prince  de  Conti,  Louis  Frangois  Joseph,  a  member  of  the  famous  house 
of  Conti,  was  born  in  1734  and  died  in  1814,  an  ardent  royalist  and  supporter 
of  monarchy. 


EARLY  LIFE  33 

Saint-Pierre,  Kirwan,  Priestly,  and  Lord  Mansfield,  took  up  his 
cause  and  proclaimed  their  belief  in  his  innocence.^  Most  of  all 
his  release  was  due,  so  he  felt,  to  the  efforts  of  his  wife,  who 
moved  heaven  and  earth  to  secure  it.  The  authorities,  how- 
ever, made  what  seemed  to  Brissot  a  hard  condition,  —  he  had 
to  promise  to  give  up  his  Lycee}  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  in 
enumerating  those  who  aided  him,  Brissot  omits  altogether  to 
mention  the  help  received  from  the  Duke  of  Chartres,  after- 
ward the  Duke  of  Orleans,^  and  that  he  minimizes  the  help  of 
Madame  Genlis-Sillery,^  and  denies  that  he  ever  had  any  sub- 
sequent relations  with  her.^  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
considering  that  one  of  the  charges  for  which,  at  the  time  he 
wrote  his  memoirs,  he  was  in  prison  and  under  sentence  of 
death,  was  of  adherence  to  the  house  of  Orleans. 

On  his  release  from  the  Bastille,  September  10,  1784/  Brissot 
found  his  finances  in  desperate  condition,  and  was  only  saved 
from  complete  bankruptcy  by  the  generosity  of  Claviere  and 
of  his  mother-in-law.'  For  a  time,  at  least,  there  were  to  be  no 
more  schemes  for  Lycees  nor  "universal  confederations."  He 
had  all  that  he  could  do  and  more  to  provide  for  his  family, 
soon  to  be  increased  by  the  birth  of  a  second  child. ^    He  and 

^  MSmoires,  ii,  10. 

^  Ibid.,  II,  24.  See  also  Biographical  Dictionary,  n,  9.  WTiy  this  should 
be  a  hard  condition,  when  the  LycSe  had  ahready  failed,  is  not  clear.  See  fur- 
ther Brissot's  account  in  his  Reponse  a  tous  les  libellistes,  20. 

*  Charpentier,  La  Bastille  devoilee,  i,  troisieme  Uvraison,  78  . 

^  See  the  account  of  the  matter  given  by  Madame  Genlis-Sillery  herself. 

*  According  to  her  story  she  did  help  him  subsequently  to  get  employment 
in  the  household  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  but  says  that  before  his  incarceration 
in  the  Bastille  she  had  never  even  heard  of  him.  In  other  particulars,  too,  her 
account  contradicts  Brissot's  memoirs;  for  instance,  she  makes  his  imprison- 
ment antedate  his  marriage.  Her  story  is  evidently  not  to  be  relied  upon. 

®  Funck-Brentano,  Les  Lettres  de  cachet,  413.  ^  MSmoires,  n,  24. 

*  See  Archives  nationales,  F  \a  1570, 9  florial,  an  IV.  Among  the  Roland  pa- 
pers at  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  (n.  ac.  fr.  mss.  9534,  fol.  328)  is  a  rough  draft 
of  a  letter  written  three  weeks  after  the  birth  of  his  child,  asking  for  some  sort 
of  an  appointment  which  would  enable  him  to  go  to  America.  M.  Perroud,  in 
his  Notice  sur  la  Vie  de  Brissot  (p.  xl),  in  the  Correspondance  calls  attention  to 
the  revelation  contained  in  the  letter  of  "une  vraie  detresse  morale  et  meme  ma- 
Urielle,  car,  dans  un  coin  du  papier  on  trouve  un  compte  de  'dSpense  pour  la 
couche '  s'elevani  a  la  somme  de  six  litres,  six  sols  [sic]J' 


34  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Felicite  lived  with  the  greatest  frugality,  but  in  spite  of  rigid 
economy  and  unremitting  industry,  he  had  frequently  to 
borrow  from  his  friends.^  His  best  friend  seems  to  have  been 
Claviere,  who  lent  him  money,  took  him  into  his  house,  and 
helped  him  out  in  difficulties. 

While  struggling  with  his  own  personal  finances  he  began  to 
write  on  financial  subjects  for  Mirabeau.  He  had  already  had 
some  correspondence  with  Mirabeau  on  behalf  of  the  English 
Ambassador  at  Copenhagen, ^  and  he  was  now  brought  into 
closer  relations  with  him  through  Claviere.  The  latter  was  one 
of  the  men  whose  pen  Mirabeau  knew  so  well  how  to  use  for  his 
own  advantage,  and  Brissot  was  soon  induced  to  lend  his  assist- 
ance. He  and  Claviere  worked  together  on  the  Caisse  d'es- 
compte,  which  was  published  under  Mirabeau's  name.'  They 
also  wrote  the  Banque  de  Saint  Charles,  which  they  intended  to 
publish  themselves,  and  which  was  in  fact  out  of  the  press 
when  they  were  prevailed  upon  by  Mirabeau  to  turn  it  over  to 
him.  Mirabeau  had  been  asked  to  furnish  such  a  work  by 
Calonne,  and  promptly  availed  himself  of  this  opportunity. 
According  to  Brissot,'*  Claviere  paid  the  expenses  and  Mira- 
beau pocketed  the  profits.  Brissot  was  probably  mistaken  in 
this,  however.^ 

*  "  II  Stmt  impossible  d^etre  plus  simple  dans  sa  parure  d' avoir  des  appartemens 
moins  recherches  d' avoir  une  table  plus  frugal  et  defaire  enfin  mains  de  depenses  ; 
safemme  etoit  cgalement  la  simplicite  meme  une  excellente  mere  defamille  unique- 
ment  occupSe  de  ses  enfans.  Souvent  brissot  [sic]  n'avoit  pas  six  francs  dans  sa 
poche,  it  etoit  oblige  de  faire  a  chaque  instant  de  petits  emprunts  a  ses  amis  et  cet 
eiat  de  mediocrite  a  toujours  existe  pour  lui  cependant  il  ne  dSpensoit  jamais  un  sou 
a  ses  plaisirs  cependant  personne  ne  travailloit  plus  que  lui."  Petion,  Notice  sur 
Brissot,  in  Vatel,  ii,  231-32. 

2  Memoires,  ii,  28-32. 

'  Ibid.,  II,  31.  This  statement  throws  light  on  Mirabeau's  assertion  that 
the  work  was  ^vritten  within  four  days  after  it  was  promised  to  Calonne,  and 
published  eight  days  after.     Lomenie,  Les  Mirabeau,  iii,  630. 

*  Memoires,  n,  31.  Mirabeau,  however,  declared  that  he  did  not  receive  any 
money  from  Calonne.     Lomenie,  iii,  633. 

"  The  following  letter  tends  to  strengthen  Mirabeau's  assertion  that  Brissot 
was  paid.  The  original  is  in  the  collection  of  the  late  M.  Paul  Arbaud,  of  Aix,  in 
Provence,  and  for  a  copy  of  it  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Professor  Fred  Morrow 
Fling,  of  the  University  of  Nebraska:  "Lettre  de  M.  le  Comte  de  Mirabeau  d  M. 


EARLY  LIFE  35 

With  the  free-and-easy  fashion  with  which  Mirabeau  took 
the  credit  of  the  work  of  other  people,  Brissot  professed  to  be 
much  shocked.  Nevertheless,  he  himseK  did  not  seem  to  have 
very  rigid  ideas  of  the  rights  of  authors,  for,  apparently  without 
any  thought  of  impropriety,  he  proceeded  to  have  printed  a 
manuscript  bearing  the  name  of  Turgot,  which  had  fallen  into 
his  hands,  and  which  bore  the  title  of  Plan  des  administrations 
provinciates,  whereupon  Mirabeau,  for  some  reason,  which  was 
not  clear  at  the  time,  became  very  angry  and  threatened  Bris- 
sot with  a  lettre  de  cachet.  Later  the  reason  became  apparent. 
It  seems  that  Mirabeau,  who  had  previously  had  possession  of 
the  manuscript,  had  already  sold  it  to  Calonne  as  his  own 
work.^  Although  Brissot  had  given  the  supposed  author  full 
credit  and  so  had  not  been  guilty  of  Mirabeau's  sin  of  plagia- 
rism, his  action  offered  Mirabeau  a  point  of  attack.  It  was 
most  unbecoming,  he  declared,  for  a  man  of  his  lofty  princi- 
ples not  to  recognize  the  sacred  rights  of  property. ^  This 
accusation  Brissot  denied.  He  reminded  Mirabeau  that  the 
author  had  been  dead  several  years  and  that  he  himself  had 
published  the  manuscript  in  the  full  persuasion  that  there  was 
no  one  who  had  a  right  to  claim  it.' 

le  Cont^  G"-K  Paris,  30  Mai,  1785.  Monsieur:  Tattens  vos  ordres;  la  premiere 
ibauche  de  mon  travail  est  faite  et  n'exige  meme  plus  que  quelques  notes,  les  der- 
nieres  touches  de  I'ecrivain  et  voire  approbation.  J'ai  cru  quil  ne  fallait  pas  un 
panflet  quon  ne  lit  point,  mais  un  ouvrage  {ex  professo) ;  et  quoique  fait  trop  rife, 
pour  etre  bien  redige,  celui-ci  contiendra  au  mains  des  principes  sains  et  les  fait  s 
principaux  avec  leurs  consequences  natvrelles.  Tai  Vhonneur  de  vou^  addresser 
la  note  des  deboursSs  de  V edition  que  vous  m'avez  charge  defaire  arreter,  tel  que  M. 
Brissot  de  Warville  me  la  fait  remettre  et  voila  pourquoi  le  costume  de  cette  note  est 
si  peu  decent ;  c'est  a  lui  ou  a  M.  Claviere  que  vous  voulez  bien  en  f aire  remettre  le 
montant,  ce  detail  m'etant  absolument  Stranger.  Je  crois  I'ouvrage  St.  Charles  tres 
presse;  ainsij'ose  solliciter  lafaveur  d'une  prompte  audience." 

1  The  plan,  although  bearing  the  name  of  Turgot,  was  written,  in  part  at 
least,  by  Dupont  de  Nemours-Lomenie,  Les  Mirabeau,  iv,  87.  Brissot  dis- 
covered the  fact  later.  Calonne,  it  seems,  showed  the  manuscript  to  Dupont, 
who  "lui  apprit  que  ce  manuscrit  sur  les  Administrations  provinciates  nappar- 
tenait  meme  pas  en  entier  a  Turgot,  et  que  cetait  lui  qui  en  avail  compose  autrefois 
le  plan  pojir  le  miniMre."     Brissot,  Memoires,  ii,  37. 

^  See  the  Correspondance,  94-95. 

'  As  a  governmental  decree  of  August  30,  1778,  gave  the  control  of  a  man's 
manuscript  after  his  death  to  his  heirs,  Brissot  was  legally  in  the  wrong. 


36  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

In  spite  of  this  quarrel,  Brissot  seems  to  have  fallen  again 
under  the  spell  of  Mirabeau's  charms.  At  all  events,  he  ad- 
mired "his  hatred  of  despotism  and  the  courage  with  which  he 
attacked  it  when  he  found  it."  At  this  time  Mirabeau  was 
planning  to  publish  a  paper  with  the  innocuous  title  of  Analyse 
des  papiers  anglais,  in  which  he  proposed  to  set  before  the 
French  people  certain  truths  which  would  not  be  welcome  to 
the  French  Government,  but  unfortunately  he  was  not  any  too 
familiar  with  the  English  language  or  with  the  state  of  Eng- 
land. Brissot  could  not  resist  this  temptation  and  of  his  own 
accord  offered  his  services  to  Mirabeau.  But  the  views  which 
Brissot  expressed  in  his  articles  on  the  trial  of  Warren  Hastings, 
and  the  situation  of  the  English  in  the  East  Indies,  led  to  dis- 
putes between  Mirabeau  and  Mallet  du  Pan.  In  these  disputes 
Brissot,  who  had  already  come  into  collision  with  Mallet  on 
account  of  their  opposing  views  on  the  Genevan  revolution, 
took  a  not  unwilling  part  —  in  some  cases  writing  letters  to 
Mallet  which  were  published  under  Mirabeau's  name.^ 

Meanwhile  Brissot  continued  writing  on  his  own  account, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  four  years  from  his  release  from  the 
Bastille  to  his  departure  for  America,  pubhshed  a  considerable 
number  of  works.  His  three  aims  were  to  popularize  knowledge, 
to  attack  abuses,  and  to  further  reform.  To  this  end  he  con- 
tinued the  publication  of  the  Bihliotheque  philosophique,^  and 
brought  out  his  attack  on  canon  law,  L'Autorite  legislative  de 
Rome  aneantie,  written  some  years  before;^  translated  Mackin- 
tosh's Travels  in  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa;'^  and  published,  be- 
sides, two  letters  to  the  Emperor  Joseph  II,  on  emigration  and 
punishment  for  crime,^  a  criticism  of  the  travels  in  America  by 
the  Marquis  de  Chastellux,^  an  attack  on  a  new  plan  for  an  in- 

1  Memoires,  ii,  38.  ^  See  p.  20.  ^  See  p.  41. 

^  Voyage  en  Europe,  en  Asie,  et  en  Afrique.  2  vols.,  London,  1786. 

6  Un  Defenseur  du  peuple  a  VEmpereur  Joseph  II,  sur  son  riglement  concern- 
ant  V emigration,  ses  diverses  rejormes,  etc.  Dublin,  1785,  And  Lettre  a  Vem- 
pereur  sur  Vatrocite  des  supplices  quil  a  substitu^s  comme  adoucissemeni  a  la 
peine  de  mort.     Bruxelles,  aout,  1787. 

^  Examen  critique  des  voyages  dans  VAm^rique  septentrionale  de  M.  le  Mar- 
quis de  Chastellux.  Loudon,  1786.  . 


EARLY  LIFE  37 

surance  company,  ^  and  a  denunciation  of  a  threatened  proposal 
of  bankruptcy.2  He  also,  with  the  assistance  of  his  wife,  trans- 
lated a  History  of  England  in  a  series  of  letters  from  a  nobleman 
to  his  son;  ^  and  in  collaboration  with  Claviere,  wrote  what  was 
up  to  this  time  his  most  important  production,  De  la  France  et 
des  Etats  Unis.*   The  ostensible  object  of  this  work  was  solely 
to  promote  commercial  and  political  relations  between  France 
and  the  United  States;  its  real  purpose  was,  further,  to  present 
so  attractive  a  picture  of  the  future  prosperity  of  the  Americans 
that  his  fellow  countrymen  would  be  tempted  to  imitate  their 
conduct  and  to  recover  their  own  liberty/    But  Brissot  was 
never  content  with  merely  writing  in  the  interests  of  reform; 
he  must  also  be  organizing.    With  the  two  objects  in  view  just 
stated  he  now  projected  an  organization  to  be  called  the  Societe 
Gallo-Americaine,  but  it  seems  never  to  have  been  carried  out.® 
In  the  midst  of  all  this  literary  work  Brissot  somehow  found 
time  to  take  an  interest  in  the  discoveries  which  were  being 
made  in  so-called  animal  magnetism.   Learning  that  Bergasse 
was  the  chief  exponent  of  these  studies,  he  hastened  to  make 
his  acquaintance  and  even  wrote  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject 
himself,  Un  mot  aux  academiciens,  in  which  he  told  them  in  no 
flattering  terms  what  he  thought  of  them  for  their  scorn  of 
Bergasse's  discoveries.^ 

^  Denunciation  au  fuhlic  d'un  nouveau  projet  d'agiotage,  London,  1786,  and 
Seconde  Lettre  contre  la  compagnie  d' assurance,  London,  1786. 

2  Point  de  hanquerouie  ou  Lettres  a  un  creancier  de  Vetat,  surVimpossihilitede 
la  hanqueroute  nationale  et  sur  les  moyens  de  ramener  la  credit  et  la  paix.  Londres, 
1787.  See  p.  39.  The  publication  of  this  work  brought  upon  Brissot  a  lettre  de 
cachet,  to  escape  the  consequences  of  which  he  was  obliged  to  flee  to  England. 
He  soon  returned  to  France.   Memoires,  ii,  69. 

'  Pubhshed  under  the  title  of  Lettres  philosophiques  et  politiques,  sur  I'kis- 
toire  de  VAngleterre  depuis  son  origine  jusqu'a  nos  jours.  Traduis  de  V anglais. 
2  vols.   London,  1786. 

*  See  p.  48.  6  Memoires,  ii,  52.  ^  g^g  p   qi 

''  Memoires,  ii,  53.  Bergasse,  Nicholas,  lawyer  and  politician,  was  bom  in 
1750.  He  became  known  for  his  researches  in  animal  magnetism,  and  later  for 
his  connection  with  the  celebrated  suit  of  Korman.  In  pleading  the  case  of  Kor- 
man  against  his  wife,  he  attacked  ministerial  despotism  and  came  into  conflict 
with  Beaumarchais  who  defended  Korman's  wife.  Elected  to  the  States- 
General  he  presented  a  draft  of  a  constitution,  but  on  its  rejection  retired  in 


38  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

He  was  delighted  to  find  that  Bergasse  too  was  interested 
in  political  reform,  and  like  himself  was  secretly  working  for  it. 
"The  time  has  arrived,"  Brissot  quoted  Bergasse  as  saying  to 
him,  "when  France  has  need  of  a  revolution.  But  to  work 
openly  for  it  is  to  fail;  to  succeed  some  mystery  is  necessary; 
men  must  be  brought  together  under  pretext  of  physical  ex- 
periments, but  in  reality  for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing  des- 
potism." ^  Brissot  was  also  delighted  to  take  part  in  these 
gatherings.  They  were  held  at  the  house  of  Korman,^  which 
appears  to  have  been  a  regular  foyer  of  revolution.'  According 
to  Brissot's  own  account  in  his  memoirs,  he  was  the  only  one 
who  preached  there  an  out-and-out  republicanism.^  It  is  to  be 
remembered,  however,  that  at  the  time  he  wrote  the  memoirs 
it  was  to  his  advantage  to  appear  to  have  been  a  republican 
at  as  early  a  date  as  possible. 

Just  at  this  juncture  an  unexpected  chance  was  offered  to 
Brissot  to  engage  in  practical  work  in  philanthropy  and  reform. 
The  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  had  recently  succeeded  to  the  head 
of  the  house,  determined  for  his  own  ends  to  encourage  a  spirit 
of  political  agitation  and  criticism.  As  a  man  known  to  repre- 
sent this  spirit  Brissot  was  invited  by  the  Marquis  Du  Crest, 
whom  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  put  in  charge  of  the  undertak- 
ing, to  enter  his  service.  That  the  opportunity  came  through 
his  own  reputation,  and  not  as  a  result  of  Madame  Brissot's 
early  connection  with  the  house  of  Orleans,  Brissot  was  careful 
to  emphasize.*  He  hesitated  for  a  moment  about  accepting  the 
offer,  fearing  that  it  might  involve  some  loss  of  independence, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  felt  that  here  under  the  guise  of  philan- 
thropic effort  was  a  glorious  opportunity  to  make  the  palace  of 
Orleans  a  center  of  revolutionary  ideas,  and  to  share  in  helping 
disgust.  His  name  was  associated  with  Brissot's  in  the  prospectus  of  the  SocietS 
Gallo-Americaine.     See  p.  61. 

^  Memoires,  ii,  54. 

2  Korman,  known  for  his  suit  against  his  wife,  which  became  celebrated 
through  the  connection  with  it  of  Bergasse  on  one  side  and  Beaumarchais  on 
the  other. 

'  Memoires,  ii,  56.  *  Ibid.,  ii,  54. 

'  Ibid.,  II,  14;  also  Biographical  anecdotes,  ii,  9. 


EARLY  LIFE  39 

to  restore  liberty  to  France.  He  accordingly  accepted  the  offer, 
at  a  salary  which  was  uncomfortably  small,  though  he  refused 
to  add  to  it  by  any  underhand  means  or  even  by  ways  usually 
considered  legitimate. 

To  this  enterprise  Brissot  not  only  devoted  himself  with  ar- 
dor but  enlisted  the  help  of  his  friends.  The  Rolands  assisted 
to  found  a  Maison  philanthropique  at  Villefranche.^  Brissot's 
friend,  Blot,  became  secretary  of  a  similar  institution  at  Lyons, 
and  Petion  worked  to  found  a  third  at  Chartres.  Meanwhile, 
he  seems  to  have  been  laying  plans  for  reform  of  a  large  and 
constructive  order.  Du  Crest,  it  appears,  was  ready  to  de- 
nounce the  existing  ministry  to  the  king,  but  Brissot  assured 
him  he  must  do  more;  that  if  he  wanted  both  reform  and  glory, 
he  must  identify  his  cause  and  that  of  the  house  of  Orleans  with 
that  of  the  people.  He  then  proceeded  to  sketch  a  bold  and 
comprehensive  plan  of  procedure.  They  must  form  a  party 
which  should  demand  radical  reform,  and  this  party  must  find 
its  support  in  the  Parlement,  which,  in  turn,  must  make  every 
effort  to  gain  popular  support.  ^ 

These  plans,  however,  were  not  carried  out,  and  Brissot  soon 
severed  his  connection  with  the  house  of  Orleans.  The  immedi- 
ate occasion  of  his  withdrawal  seems  to  have  been  a  lettre  de 
cachet  with  which  he  was  threatened  on  account  of  his  pam- 
phlets on  bankruptcy.^  About  this  time,  and  perhaps  because 
of  the  desirability  of  absence  from  France,  he  made  a  brief  visit 
to  England.  Before  leaving  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
he  had  visited  Holland  also,  just  at  the  height  of  the  republican 
rising  against  the  stadtholder.  Thus  for  a  second  time  Brissot 
had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  a  people  actually  in  revolt.* 

^  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ed.  by  Perroud,  ii,  730-31. 

*  Correspondance,  139,  160. 

'  The  lettre  de  cachet  was  doubtless  occasioned  in  part  by  the  suspicion  with 
which  he  was  regarded  as  being  connected  with  the  schemes  of  the  house  of 
Orleans.  See  Notice  sur  la  vie  de  Brissot  by  Perroud  in  the  Correspondajice, 
p.  xlv.  Petion  does  not  connect  the  severing  of  his  connection  with  the  house 
of  Orleans  with  this  lettre  de  cachet,  but  says  it  was  due  to  his  independence 
of  spirit.     Notice  in  Vatel,  ii,  232. 

*  See  Perroud,  Notice  in  the  Correspondance,  p.  xliv;  also  Brissot,  Memoires, 


40  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

He  now  threw  himself  into  another  kind  of  reform.  He  had  be- 
come deeply  interested  in  the  agitation,  especially  in  England, 
against  the  slave  trade,  and,  unmindful  of  his  former  failures 
in  philanthropic  schemes,  proceeded  to  establish  a  society 
called  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  whose  object,  as  the  name  implies, 
was  to  work  in  behalf  of  the  negro.  The  importance  of  this  so- 
ciety, and  of  Brissot's  influence  in  connection  with  it,  demands 
treatment  at  some  length,  but  the  story  can  best  be  told  in  con- 
nection with  Brissot's  career  during  the  Revolution,  when  the 
society  was  most  prominently  before  the  public.^ 

Meanwhile  he  had  become  so  discouraged  by  the  slowness  of 
reform  in  France,  that  he  began  to  think  of  the  possibility  of 
emigrating  to  America.  The  desire  to  obtain  information  on  the 
state  of  the  negro  in  America,  and  also  to  investigate  that  coun- 
try as  a  possible  place  of  residence  for  himseK  and  his  family, 
made  him  eager  to  undertake  a  journey  to  the  new  world.  An 
opportunity  soon  presented  itself.  Some  one  was  needed  to 
carry  on  certain  financial  negotiations  with  the  United  States. 
Brissot  was  chosen,  and  in  the  spring  of  1788  he  set  out.^  He 
was  still  in  the  United  States,  at  the  close  of  1788,  when  the 
news  from  France  suddenly  brought  him  to  the  realization 
that  a  revolution  might  be  really  at  hand.  A  man  who  all  his 
life  had  been  working  to  bring  about  a  revolution,  was  not  go- 
ing to  miss  the  chance  of  being  an  active  participant  in  it,  and 
with  all  possible  haste  he  hurried  back  to  France. 

II,  67.  In  his  Rcponse  Brissot  says  that  he  fled  to  Holland  on  account  of  the 
threatened  lettre  de  cachet  and  thence  to  England,  but  from  his  Memoires  it 
would  appear  that  his  trip  to  England  antedated  the  lettre  de  cachet. 

1  See  chap.  viii. 

2  For  the  story  of  these  travels  and  of  their  subsequent  influence  on  Brissot's 
career,  see  chap.  iv. 


CHAPTER  III 

BRISSOT   AS   AUTHOR   AND   JOURNALIST   BEFORE   THE 
REVOLUTION 

The  external  facts  of  Brissot's  early  life  have  been  presented. 
They  show  in  some  measure  his  ideals  and  aims  and  interests, 
but  the  picture  needs  to  be  completed  by  a  portrait  of  the  man 
as  seen  in  his  writings.  During  the  fifteen  years  from  1774  to 
1789,  which  were  devoted  in  large  part  to  hterary  work,  he  pro- 
duced an  enormous  amount  and  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects 
from  the  customs  of  ancient  India  to  the  "search  for  truth." 
All  this  work  in  its  anti-Christian  tendency,  its  emphasis  on 
natural  rights,  its  gospel  of  humanitarianism  and  political  re- 
form, was  typical  of  eighteenth-century  thought.  Moreover, 
it  throws  light  on  Brissot's  personal  characteristics,  plainly 
revealing  in  the  youth  the  father  of  the  maturer  man,  and 
forecasts  the  part  which  he  was  to  play  in  the  Revolution. 

Brissot  was  at  the  same  time  the  disciple  of  Voltaire,  of 
Rousseau,  and  of  Montesquieu.  The  influence  of  Voltaire  was 
perhaps  the  least,  but  it  is  unmistakable  in  the  general  atti- 
tude and  trenchant  tone  of  his  earlier  works  VAutorite  legis- 
lative de  Rome  aneantie  ^  and  Leitres  philosophiques  sur  Saint 
Paul.  The  former  was  an  attack  on  canon  law.  The  whole  sys- 
tem, Brissot  declared,  rested  on  an  extremely  shaky  foundation. 
The  Holy  Scriptures  contained  but  little  material  on  dogma  or 
discipline,  the  decisions  of  the  councils  were  not  infallible,  the 
decrees  of  the  Popes  had,  in  many  cases,  proved  to  be  only  a 
tissue  of  falsehood,  and  the  authority  of  the  writings  of  the 
church  fathers  was  more  than  doubtful.  And  then,  coming 
nearer  home,  French  canon  law  was  drawTi  from  sources  which 
were  either  uncertain  or  corrupt.  In  his  Lettres  philosophiques 
sur  Saint  Paul  he  attacked  the  teachings  even  of  Scripture. 

1  See  p.  86. 


42  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  authority  of  his  epistles  was  doubtful  in  the  first  place, 
and  St.  Paul  himself  was  a  dangerous  fanatic,  who  deliberately 
invented  stories  of  visions  and  miracles  in  order  to  gain  power. 
His  preaching,  moreover,  consisted  of  intolerant  and  harmful 
doctrines  injurious  both  to  the  individual  and  to  society.  The 
doctrine  of  predestination  Brissot  held  in  special  abhorrence. 
"The  system  of  predestination,"  he  declared,  "destroys  all 
noble  ideas  of  courage  and  of  patriotism ;  the  soul  plunged  into 
a  state  of  flabby  inertia,  expects  everything  from  the  hand  of 
its  God,  favors  on  earth  and  salvation  in  heaven.  This  doc- 
trine is  therefore  pernicious  and  enervating  to  society,  in  that 
it  destroys  all  its  energy;  cruel  to  man,  in  that  it  makes  him  a 
mere  slave;  outrageous  to  the  Supreme  Being  in  that  it  makes 
him  a  capricious  tyrant.  St.  Paul  is,  then,  a  dangerous  dreamer, 
whose  opinions  ought  to  be  proscribed."  ^  Not  only  was  St. 
Paul  entirely  wrong,  but  Christianity  itself  had  done  much 
harm.  It  was  inevitable  that  it  should  work  mischief,  he  as- 
serted, because  it  was  "contrary  to  the  passions  which  nature 
has  graven  on  the  soul  of  man."  Nature  speaks  with  impera- 
tive command  and  legislators  should  take  warning  and  deal 
much  more  leniently  with  those  alleged  crimes  or  vices,  such  as 
prostitution,  adultery,  and  bigamy,  which  have  their  root  in 
natural  instincts. 

Here  Brissot  was  moved  not  so  much  by  the  rationalism  of 
Voltaire  as  by  the  sentimentalism  of  Rousseau.  He  further  held 
Rousseau's  belief  in  man's  natural  goodness,  or  at  least  in  his 
capacity  for  goodness,  and  in  this  belief  he  saw  a  further  objec- 
tion to  predestination  with  its  assumption  of  man's  natural 
depravity.  In  language  which  was  the  very  echo  of  Rousseau, 
he  declared:  "Man  is  naturally  good,  or  at  least  he  is  born  in- 
different alike  to  vice  and  to  virtue.  Guide  his  steps  in  child- 
hood by  good  example,  by  habits  of  justice,  of  social  respon- 
sibility, of  equality,  and  he  will  become  just  and  upright."  ^ 

1  Lettres  philosophiques  aur  Saini  Paul,  105-06.  Had  Brissot  forgotten  the 
Puritans? 

*  Lettre  d  Barnave,  61. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  43 

In  his  love  of  physical,  as  well  as  of  human  nature  Brissot 
was  also  influenced  by  Rousseau.    He  was  an  indefatigable 
reader  of  Rousseau,  especially  of  his  Confessions,  which  he  had 
read  at  least  six  times,  and  he  was  always  quoting  from  his 
writings.   Like  Rousseau,  he  discoursed  at  length  on  the  joys 
of  solitude,  and  like  him  too,  he  was  moved  almost  to  tears  by 
the  beauty  of  a  rustic  life.    But  Brissot's  assertion  that  they 
were  much  alike,  not  only  in  tastes  but  also  in  character,  is 
amusing,  considering  that  they  represented  the  most  divergent 
possible  types,  and  proves  either  that  Brissot  did  not  under- 
stand Rousseau  or  that  he  did  not  understand  himself.^   But 
influenced  he  certainly  was  by  Rousseau,  and  that  influence  is 
perhaps  chiefly  seen  in  his  constant  reference  to  a  state  of  na- 
ture.  In  his  work  Recherches  philosophiques  sur  la  propriete  et  le 
vol,  he  undertook  to  show  that  in  a  state  of  nature  there  was  no 
such  thing  as  theft. ^  His  argument  was  as  follows:  Everything 
is  in  movement;  there  can  be  no  improvement  without  action; 
all  action  presupposes  the  application  of  one  body  upon  an- 
other, and  all  such  application  means  friction  and  hence  de- 
struction.  Destruction,  then,  is  the  necessary  consequence  of 
movement;  all  things,  therefore,  are  bound  to  destroy  each 
other;  and  property  is  the  right  which  one  body  has  of  destroy- 
ing another  body  in  order  to  preserve  itself.   But  to  preserve 
itself  the  body  must  satisfy  its  needs.  The  satisfaction  of  needs, 
then,  is  the  end  and  cause  of  property.   The  right  of  property 
may  be  exercised  upon  animals  as  well  as  upon  vegetables,  and 
even  upon  man.  There  are  no  classes  in  natm-e.  Each  may  live 
on  his  own  species,  if  necessary.   But  as  the  cause  of  property 
is  need,  so  the  limit  of  property  is  the  extinction  of  need.  Hence 
there  can  be  no  exclusive  property  in  a  state  of  nature,  neither 
can  there  be  theft.   The  word  "property"  is  erased  from  her 
code.  She  no  more  authorizes  man  to  the  exclusive  enjoyment 
of  the  land  than  of  air,  or  fire,  or  water.^ 

1  MSmoires,  i,  18-24,  249. 

2  See  Goupil,  La  ProprietS  selon  Brissot  de  Warville. 
'  Recherches  philosophiques,  in  Bib.  phil.,  vi,  323. 


44  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

After  having  stated  these  somewhat  radical  views,  Brissot 
goes  on  to  consider  property  in  society.  This  kind  of  property, 
he  declares,  "has  borrowed  the  features  of  property  in  a  state 
of  nature,  and  under  this  imposing  mask  has  known  how  to 
secure  for  itself  a  veneration  which  it  does  not  deserve,  and 
defenders  blinded  by  the  desire  for  exclusive  possession.  It  is 
this  alleged  property  which  is  claimed  by  the  rich  financier  who 
has  constructed  superb  palaces  at  the  expense  of  the  public 
funds;  by  the  greedy  prelate  who  swims  in  opulence;  by  the  lazy 
man  of  the  middle  class,  who  takes  his  ease  while  the  day  laborer 
is  suffering.  It  is  this  alleged  property  which  is  claimed  by  that 
seigneur  who,  jealous  of  his  rights,  shuts  his  gates  and  closes  his 
park  and  his  gardens.  ...  It  is  this  property  which  has  created 
locks  and  bolts  and  a  thousand  other  inventions  which  sepa- 
rate man  from  his  fellows  and  isolate  him,  and  which  protect 
the  alleged  right  of  exclusive  possession,  the  curse  of  natural 
rights.  The  characteristic  of  property  in  a  state  of  nature  is 
that  it  is  universal,  while  property  in  society  is  individual, 
special.  People  ascribe  to  these  two  things  —  property  in 
nature  and  property  in  society  —  the  same  origin  and  the  same 
attributes,  but  they  are  absolutely  different."  ^ 

The  doctrines  and  the  conclusions  to  which  these  views 
inevitably  pointed  were  sufficiently  startling  to  evoke  bitter 
criticism,  of  which  Brissot  apparently  never  heard  the  end.  It 
certainly  was  not  difficult  to  find  in  them  a  defense  of  canni- 
balism and  a  direct  attack  on  property.  When,  therefore,  early 
in  1792,  the  question  of  property  rights  was  under  discussion,^ 
his  enemies  made  haste  to  confront  him  with  these  early  utter- 
ances. In  defense  he  declared  that  he  had  not  meant  his  state- 
ments to  apply  to  organized  society,  and  cited  various  passages 
from  this  and  other  early  works  in  substantiation  of  this  con- 
tention. It  was  indeed  true  that  Brissot,  like  Rousseau,  was 
frequently  inconsistent;  and  like  Rousseau  too,  frankly  ad- 
mitted the  impossibility  of  the  logical  carrying  out  of  his  ideas. 

*  Recherches  philosojihiques,  in  Bib.  phil.,  vi,  323-24. 

^  The  question  of  rights  of  property  in  negroes  was  involved.   See  p.  266. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  45 

For  instance,  in  this  very  essay  on  property  and  theft  in  which 
he  had  savagely  attacked  property,  Brissot  says  ahnost  in  the 
same  breath  that  property  must  be  protected;  in  the  essay  on 
the  Moyens  d'adoucir  en  France  la  rigueur  des  lois  penales  he 
speaks  with  a  sigh  of  regret  of  a  proposition  to  distribute  riches 
in  a  just  proportion  among  all  the  citizens  as  a  dream  of  the 
golden  age,  and  in  Le  Sang  innocent  venge  he  declares  that  the 
triple  basis  of  the  social  contract  is  formed  by  liberty,  security, 
and  property. 

But  it  was  rather  with  the  practical  betterment  of  existing 
society  than  with  theories  concerning  the  state  of  nature  that 
Brissot  was  chiefly  concerned.  He  was  imbued,  not  merely 
with  the  sentimentalism  but  with  the  humanitarian  spirit  of 
the  age.  Voltaire  and  Beccaria,  Montesquieu  and  Filangieri, 
were  pleading  for  a  wider  toleration,  a  milder  penal  system, 
and  a  more  reasonable  legal  code.  To  this  company  Brissot 
joined  his  voice:  "To  better  the  penal  legislation  of  all  the 
peoples  of  Europe"  was  his  somewhat  comprehensive  aim,^ 
and  it  w^as  to  this  end  that  he  wrote  treatises,  compiled  dic- 
tionaries, and  founded  societies.  His  fundamental  premise, 
which,  however,  far  from  being  original  with  him,  was  com- 
mon to  most  of  the  humanitarians  of  the  time,  was  that  crime 
was  in  large  measure  a  disease,  the  result  of  ignorance,  oppres- 
sion, and  poverty.  To  imagine,  therefore,  that  it  could  be 
lessened  by  severe  and  cruel  punishments  was  sheer  folly.^ 

The  only  effective  way  was  to  get  at  the  root  of  the  diflfi- 
culty  and  to  remove  the  causes  of  crime  —  in  other  words, 
make  people  happy  and  crime  would  almost  disappear  of  it- 
self. The  particular  means  by  which  people  were  to  be  made 
happy,  Brissot  continued,  —  and  here  he  showed  the  evident 
mfluence  of  Montesquieu,  —  depended  in  some  measure  on 
climate,^  but  in  general  he  advocated  lowering  the  taxes,  rais- 
ing the  moral  standard,  which  in  turn  would  be  furthered  by  a 

^  Bib.  phil..  Preface,  i,  iv. 

*  Moyens  de  prSvenir  des  crimes  en  France,  in  Bib.  phil.,  vi,  3. 

'  Theorie  des  lois  criminelles,  i,  113. 


46  BEISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

reform  of  national  education,  the  encouragement  of  arts  and 
letters,  the  extirpation  of  begging,  and  the  establishment  of 
better  police  protection,  —  in  short,  more  liberty  and  equality.  ^ 
But  the  process  of  education  was  slow  and  existing  crime 
must  be  dealt  with.  Here  Brissot  pleaded  for  greater  modera- 
tion. The  motives  of  the  criminal  should  be  taken  into  account, 
and  a  crime  committed  through  fear  of  death  or  because  of 
hunger  or  distress  should  be  treated  with  more  leniency  than 
crimes  committed  through  other  motives.  Theft,  for  example, 
so  often  occasioned  by  want  and  even  by  actual  starvation,  was 
punished  far  too  severely.  "  It  is  not  the  poor  starving  wretch," 
he  declared,  "who  deserves  to  be  punished;  it  is  the  rich  man 
who  is  so  barbarous  as  to  refuse  to  help  his  fellow  man  in  dis- 
tress who  is  worthy  of  condemnation."  ^  Moreover,  the  end  of 
punishment  must  be  borne  in  mind,  to  make  reparation  to 
society  or  to  the  individual  wronged,  to  warn  by  example  and 
to  prevent  the  guilty  from  doing  further  injury.^  Any  punish- 
ment which  fails  to  fulfill  these  ends  was  unjustifiable.  This 
was  true,  he  declared,  of  the  punishment  of  death,  which  not 
only  did  not  prevent  crime,  but  instead,  by  familiarizing  peo- 
ple with  the  shedding  of  blood,  offered  an  example  of  cruelty, 
and,  moreover,  involved  the  possibility  of  a  fearful  mistake.^ 
Forced  labor  would  act  as  a  better  deterrent  and  at  the  same 
time  be  more  useful  to  society.  Torture  and  mutilation  were 
almost  as  objectionable  as  the  death  penalty,  and  for  much  the 
same  reasons.^  In  fact,  the  severity  of  punishment  should  be 
moderated  and  in  all  cases  the  punishment  should  fit  the 
crime,  both  in  proportion  and  in  kind.  Crimes  against  the 
state  should  be  punished  more  severely  than  crimes  against 
morality,  because  they  injure  the  public  welfare,^  and  in  this 
connection  crimes  against  the  dominant  religion  should  be  pun- 

^  Moyens  cCadoucir  la  rigueur  des  lois  pinoles. 
^  Recherches  philosophiques,  in  Bib.  phil.,  vi,  334. 
'  Moyens  d'axloncir  la  rigueur  des  lois  penales,  83. 
*  Ibid.,  75-83;  and  Le  Sang  innocent  vengi. 
s  Bib.  phil,  IV,  179-80. 
^  Thiorie  des  lois  criminelles. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  47 

ished  as  anti-patriotic.^  The  state,  moreover,  should  exercise 
control  over  punishment  meted  out  by  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities, such  as  excommunications  and  exemptions,  in  so  far 
as  they  applied  to  the  individual  citizen. ^  Imprisonment  for 
debt  should  be  abolished,  and  many  offenses  against  morality 
might  well  be  left  to  the  scourge  of  an  enlightened  public 
opinion. 

There  was  crying  need,  Brissot  argued  further,  of  a  radical 
change  in  the  procedure  of  the  criminal  courts.  Forced  con- 
fession should  be  abolished,  proof  by  direct  witnesses  and  by 
experts  should  be  better  regulated,  circumstantial  evidence 
should  be  surrounded  by  greater  safeguards,  more  publicity 
should  somehow  be  secured,  a  fuller  communication  of  the 
charges  should  be  made  to  the  accused  at  an  earlier  stage  in  the 
trial,  and  he  should  always  be  given  a  lawyer  for  his  defense,' 
All  this  would  tend  to  prevent  the  conviction  of  the  inno- 
cent, but,  if  in  spite  of  all  reasonable  precautions,  an  innocent 
person  should  be  convicted,  provision  should  be  made  for  re- 
paration.^ Above  all,  the  accused  must  be  separated  from  the 
convicted,  and  even  among  the  latter  there  must  be  some  divi- 
sion, according  to  the  nature  of  the  crime.  ^  Furthermore,  the 
bar  itself  was  in  a  state  of  decadence.  This  was  due  to  the  poor 
education  of  the  would-be  lawyer,  the  obscurity  of  the  laws, 
the  insufficient  pecuniary  rewards  of  the  profession,^  and  the 
narrow-minded  spirit  which  pervaded  the  entire  body  of  ad- 
vocates. In  short,  in  order  to  reform  penal  legislation  the  legal 
profession  must  be  reformed.^ 

If  Brissot's  ideas  on  penal  legislation  show  the  influence  of 
the  humanitarians,  his  ideas  on  economic  principles  show  the 

*  Moyens  d'adoucir  la  rigveur  des  lots  p&nales,  72-74. 

*  Theorie  des  lois  criminelles. 

'  Moyens  d'adoucir  la  rigveur  des  lois  pennies,  94f-112. 

*  Le  Sang  innocent  vengi.  This  work  was  severely  criticized  in  the  Mercure 
of  August  3,  1782. 

^  Theorie  des  lois  criminelles,  i,  180-86. 

^  Un  Independant  a  Vordre  des  avocats  sur  la  decadence  du  barreau  en  France. 

'  Point  de  banqueroute. 


48  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

influence  of  the  physiocrats.  Like  them  he  declared  that  the 
sole  source  of  riches  was  in  the  soil,  and  not  in  money  brought 
into  the  country  in  payment  of  exports;  and  that  to  try  to  en- 
rich the  country  by  so  restricting  foreign  trade  that  the  exports 
might  always  be  greater  than  the  imports  and  the  balance  of 
commerce  be  in  favor  of  the  home  country,  was  sheer  futility. 
These  ideas  he  developed  at  length  in  the  work  which  he  pro- 
duced in  collaboration  with  Claviere,  De  la  France  et  des  £tats 
Unis. 

France  and  the  United  States  have  need  of  each  other's  prod- 
ucts, he  argued.  The  latter  being  a  new  country  must  first 
develop  her  agriculture,  and  meanwhile  she  must  depend  for 
her  manufactured  articles  on  Europe.  England  is  quite  alive 
to  this  situation,  and  is  bestirring  herself  to  develop  commer- 
cial relations  with  the  United  States.  France  will  lose  her  op- 
portunity. She  ought  to  act  quickly,  for  she  needs  commerce 
with  the  United  States  in  order  to  develop  her  marine,  and  at 
the  same  time  she  stands  in  need  of  those  very  raw  materials 
of  which  the  United  States  has  an  abundance.  To  this  end, 
protective  duties  should  be  removed,  or  at  least  lowered.^ 
There  must  be  liberty,  and  it  must  be  as  complete  as  possible. 
Freedom  of  trade  also  meant  to  Brissot  freedom  of  internal 
trade,  and,  above  all,  abolition  of  monopolies.  He  was  espe- 
cially anxious  to  have  the  government  monopoly  removed  on 
tobacco  and  salt.^  Monopoly,  he  declared,  might  enrich  some 
few  individuals,  but  it  was  destructive  of  national  commerce. 

Many  other  evils,  too,  from  which  France  was  suffering  were 
due,  he  maintained,  to  inherent  injustice  in  the  government 
itself.  Rather  than  provide  charitable  institutions  for  the  poor, 
he  cried,  do  away  with  privilege,  and  you  will  find  that  there 
is  little  need  of  such  institutions.  Equality  is  the  imperative 
need.  In  this  connection,  France  might  well  learn  from  Eng- 
land where  there  exist  much  better  resources  against  injustice 

^  De  la  France,  293.  See  also  Journal  du  Lyc6e,  13.  For  a  fuller  statement,  see 
p.  64. 

2  De  la  France,  86. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  49 

and  oppression  than  in  France.^  At  the  same  time,  Brissot  was 
no  bhnd  admirer  of  England,  and  while  he  was  continually- 
trying  to  extend  in  France  information  about  English  institu- 
tions, he  by  no  means  refrained  from  criticizing  their  defects. 
He  recognized,  of  course,  the  superiority  of  England  over 
France  in  that  the  English  people  through  their  representa- 
tive institutions  had  a  part  in  the  government;  but  he  agreed 
with  David  Williams  in  declaring  that  England  had  lost  much 
of  her  vaunted  political  liberty  because,  as  a  matter  of  actual 
fact,  the  people  had  no  adequate  method  of  controlling  either 
the  legislative  or  the  executive  branch  of  the  government. ^ 

But  if  Brissot  was  lukewarm  in  his  approval  of  England,  he 
was  most  enthusiastic  in  his  admiration  for  the  United  States. 
In  fact,  there  was  hardly  a  chapter  in  any  of  his  works  in  which 
he  did  not  allude  to  the  importance  of  following  American  ex- 
ample. It  was  not  in  the  formless  and  obsolete  institutions  of 
England,  he  asserted  again  and  again,  but  in  the  free  institu- 
tions of  the  new  republic  across  the  water  that  a  people  seeking 
to  recover  its  liberty  might  find  the  true  model.^  There  was  to 
be  found  liberty,  equality,  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 
The  Americans  had  done  well,  he  declared,  to  avoid  following 
too  closely  the  example  of  England  in  their  constitutions;  and 
to  illustrate  his  meaning  he  compared,  point  by  point,  the  new 
constitution  of  Pennsylvania  with  the  corresponding  English 
constitutional  provisions,  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  former. 
If  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  only  showed  the  same  wisdom, 
he  added,  in  working  out  their  system  of  legislation,  they  would 
be  doubly  happy .^  In  his  theories  regarding  government  Bris- 
sot was  greatly  influenced  by  Montesquieu,  and  a  further  cause 
of  his  admiration  for  the  United  States  was  that  he  saw  there 

*  Moyens  d'adoucir  la  rigueur  des  lois  pSnales,  36,  and  Denonciation  d'un 
nouveau  projet  d' agiotage,  47. 

2  Lettres  sur  la  libertS  politique. 

*  "Je  vis  qu'on  devait  precher,  aux  sociStis,  non  d' adopter  la  charte  informe  et 
presqii  effac6e  des  Bretons,  mais  le  modele  simple,  puise  dans  la  nature  par  lea 
AmSricains."  RSponse  d,  tous  les  libellistes,  22. 

*  Bib.  phil..  Ill,  254-58. 


50  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

that  system  of  checks  and  balances  so  warmly  advocated  in 
Montesquieu's  U Esprit  des  lois  ;  ^  but  above  all,  he  admired  the 
United  States  because  it  was  democratic  in  spirit  and  repub- 
lican in  government.  He  was  a  thorough-going  democrat,  and 
was  constantly  preaching  equality.  "There  can  be  a  real  senti- 
ment of  patriotism,"  he  declared,  "there  can  be  real  public 
welfare  only  when  the  individual  of  the  lowest  class  is  happy 
and  free."  ^  "Political  nomenclature  itself  must  be  changed 
and  the  word  people  substituted  for  the  Gothic  and  disgrace- 
ful term  third  estate"  ^  If  complete  equality  were  imprac- 
tical under  a  monarchical  form  of  government,  he  would 
have  at  least  civil  equality,  that  is  to  say,  equality  before  the 
law. 

But  however  fully  Brissot  might  adjust  himself  to  existing 
conditions,  at  heart  he  was  a  republican.  If  he  had  carried  out 
his  theories,  he  would  not  have  had  monarchy  at  all.  "Noth- 
ing that  was  unjust  could  be  good  politically,"  he  maintained, 
and  the  inevitable  limitations  of  equality  under  a  monarchy 
were  not  consistent  with  the  fullest  justice.  It  did  not  always 
seem  to  him  wise  to  proclaim  his  conviction,  but  he  was  cer- 
tainly bold  enough  in  the  defense  of  the  alliance  of  France  with 
the  republican  party  in  Holland,  in  opposition  to  the  stadt- 
holder,^  and  in  his  criticism  of  the  systems  of  provincial 
administration  proposed  by  Necker  and  by  Turgot,  he  came 
out  with  great  frankness.  The  title  itself  of  the  latter  work 
was  courageous.  Observations  of  a  Republican,  and  the  views 
which  he  expressed  therein  did  not  belie  the  title.  "Au- 
thority is  everything,  the  people  is  nothing,"  he  declared; 
"this  is  true  of  all  monarchical  governments."^  Again:  "The 
methods  of  a  republican  government  cannot  be  harmonized 
with  the  spirit  and  customs  of  a  monarchy."  And  finally  he 
declared  it  his  opinion  —  an  opinion  of  some  importance,  in 
view  of  his  later  attitude  —  that  Turgot,  in  attempting  to 

^  Le  Philadelphien  a  Geneve,  174. 

^  Bib.  phil.  DiscouTS  preliminaire,  i,  xxxiv. 

»  Point  de  banqueroute,  31.  *  Ibid.,  80.  ^  See  p.  253. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  51 

make  a  constitution  without  changing  the  form  itself  of  the 
government,  had  undertaken  an  impossibihty. 

But  putting  aside  the  question  of  the  theoretically  best  gov- 
ernment and  accepting  the  existing  monarchy,  he  was  con- 
vinced that  the  reforms  advocated  by  Necker  and  Turgot  were 
not  thorough-going  enough  even  for  the  actual  situation.  Both 
these  reforms,  though  differing  in  detail,  provided  for  provincial 
assemblies  which  should  have  power  to  discuss  and  to  oppose 
the  taxes.  Brissot  particularly  objected  to  the  limitations  put 
upon  these  assemblies  in  Necker's  plan;  namely,  that  they  were 
to  meet  but  rarely,  remain  in  session  only  for  a  limited  time, 
and  not  to  correspond  with  each  other.  In  view  of  these  re- 
strictions he  declared  that  Necker,  instead  of  being  a  defender 
of  the  people,  was  really  an  advocate  of  absolute  sovereignty. 
Turgot's  plan,  while  it  did  oppose  some  check  to  the  intendants, 
put  the  property  qualification  too  high  for  electors  of  these 
local  assemblies.  Until  a  new  system  of  taxation  should  be 
established,  —  that  is,  a  tax  laid  on  land  only,  —  the  con- 
sumer ultimately  had  a  part  in  paying  the  tax  and  should  be 
recognized.  In  short,  every  consumer  of  adult  years  should 
have  a  voice  in  choosing  the  men  who  were  to  control  the  ap- 
portionment of  the  taxes.  Merely  to  apportion  the  taxes,  how- 
ever, was  not  sufficient,  and  both  plans  failed  to  go  to  the  root 
of  the  evil  in  that  they  did  not  provide  for  any  real  control  of 
taxation.  To  be  of  any  practical  use,  the  provincial  assemblies 
must  have  the  right  to  refuse  to  pay  the  taxes,  and  also  the 
means  of  backing  up  their  refusal.  This  criticism  of  the  alleged 
conservatism  of  Necker  and  Turgot  is  interesting,  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  they  both  fell  because  they  were  thought  to  be 
too  radical. 

Meanwhile  the  existing  taxes  were  proving  more  and  more 
inadequate  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  government,  the  Parle- 
ment  of  Paris  had  resisted  the  imposition  of  new  taxes,  and  the 
minister  Brienne  in  despair  had  projected  a  declaration  of 
bankruptcy.  Apropos  of  this  situation,  Brissot  vrrote  his  essay 
Point  de  banqueroute,  in  which  he  upheld  Parlement,  vehemently 


52  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

opposed  the  declaration  of  bankruptcy,  and  declared  that  there 
must  be  no  halfway  measures,  that  thorough-going  reform  was 
needed.  This  included  the  determination  of  the  deficit,  the 
suppression  of  the  particular  taxes  under  discussion  till  the 
amount  of  the  deficit  should  be  ascertained  and  the  said  taxes 
consented  to  by  the  States-General,  the  establishment  of  a 
regular  administration  of  the  finances,  a  prompt  calling  of  the 
States-General,  and  the  abolition  of  lettres  de  cachet. 

To  bring  about  such  reforms  there  were  two  methods :  a  slow 
process  of  education  and  actual  revolt.  Both  of  these  methods 
Brissot  advocated,  though  he  laid  more  stress  on  the  former. 
Indeed,  a  large  part  of  his  writing  had  for  its  direct  and  avowed 
purpose  to  extend  information  and  to  educate  public  opinion. 
Such  was  his  purpose,  it  will  be  remembered,  in  the  Theorie 
des  lots  criminelles,^  Un  Independant  a  Vordre  des  avocats,^  De 
la  Verite,^  Le  Philadelphien  a  Geneve,'^  the  Correspondance  uni- 
verselle,^  Lettres  sur  la  liberte  politique,  the  Journal  du  Lycee,^  the 
Tableau  de  la  situation  actuelle  des  anglais  dans  les  Indes  orien- 
ieles,''  Examen  critique  des  voyages  dans  VAmerique  septentrio- 
nale  de  M.  le  Marquis  de  Chastellux,^  De  la  France  et  des  Etats 
Unis,^  and  above  all,  in  his  Bihliotheque  philosophique.^^  Like 
the  encyclopedists,  he  would  popularize  knowledge.  He  would 
unite  men  of  letters  of  all  quarters  of  the  globe  in  a  single  body, 
so  that,  to  quote  his  own  language,  "  a  Laplander  transplanted 
to  Paris  or  Madrid  would  be  as  much  at  home  as  though  he  were 
a  Frenchman  or  a  Spaniard,  since  he  would  realize  that  as  a 
man  of  letters  he  belongs  to  all  countries."  ^^ 

In  this  connection  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Brissot  went  even 
further  and  advocated,  not  merely  a  universal  brotherhood  of 
savants,  but  of  nations.  In  fact,  he  held  ideas  which  to-day 
would  place  him  among  the  leaders  of  the  Peace  Movement. 
In  his  arguments  in  De  la  France  et  des  Etats  Unis,  against  re- 
strictive tariffs,  he  declared  that  nature  evidently  meant  all 

1  See  p.  13.  »  See  p.  19.  ^  ggg  p.  20.  "  See  p.  22. 

6  See  p.  26.  «  See  p.  29.  '  See  p.  26.  «  See  p.  36. 

'  See  p.  48.  ^°  See  p.  20.  **  Journal  du  LycSe. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  53 

men  to  be  brothers/  and,  apropos  of  the  conclusion  of  peace 
between  Great  Britain  and  her  former  colonies,  he  wrote:  "Let 
all  men,  English,  French,  Spaniards,  Dutchmen,  Catholics, 
Protestants,  Jews,  abjure  the  fatal  prejudices  which  divide 
them.  Let  them  hold  out  to  each  other  the  hand  of  friendship, 
let  there  be  no  more  distinctions,  no  more  of  that  national 
pride,  no  more  of  that  antipathy  which  dishonors  humanity 
and  stains  the  earth  with  blood."  ^ 

This,  however,  was  but  a  remote  Utopia.  Brissot's  imme- 
diate aim  was  to  bring  about  reform  in  existing  governments. 
Education  of  both  prince  and  people  was  necessary,  but  if  it 
happened  that  the  people  were  educated  up  to  the  necessity  of 
reform  while  the  prince  was  not,  then  revolt  might  be  necessary. 
In  fact,  revolt  occasioned  by  the  vexatious  acts  of  a  magistrate 
who  had  abused  his  power  in  injuring  the  life  or  liberty  of  his 
people  was  not  merely  justifiable  but  a  real  duty.  The  revo- 
lutions in  Holland,^  in  Geneva,"  and  in  Hungary,^  he  held  to 
be  cases  in  point,  and  wrote  at  length  in  their  justification. 

In  getting  his  works  printed,  Brissot  had  the  usual  struggle 
with  the  censorship  of  the  press.  This  censorship  was  quite 
rigorous  enough  to  justify  Beaumarchais's  famous  satire. 
"They  all  tell  me,"  Beaumarchais  makes  Figaro  say,  "that 
if  in  my  writings  I  mention  neither  the  government,  nor  public 
worship,  nor  politics,  nor  morals,  nor  people  in  office,  nor  in- 
fluential corporations,  nor  the  opera,  nor  the  other  theaters, 
nor  any  one  who  has  aught  to  do  with  anything,  I  may  print 
everything  freely,  subject  to  the  approval  of  two  or  three 
censors.""  The  truth  of  this  satire  Brissot  might  well  have 
realized  when  he  secured  permission  to  print  his  Tableau  des 
anglais  dans  les  Indes  only  on  condition  of  submitting  each 
number  to  the  censorship  of  four  ministers.'  Considering  the 
object  of  his  work  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  he  was  in 

1  See  p.  49.  ^  Correspondance  universelle,  i,  169. 

*  Point  de  banqueroute.  *  Le  Philadelphien  a  Geneve. 

^  Un  DSfenseur  du  peuple  a  V empereiir  (Joseph  II). 
^  See  Le  Manage  de  Figaro,  Act  v.  Scene  iii. 
'  RSponse  d,  tous  les  libellistes,  17-18. 


54  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

continual  difficulties  with  the  censorship.  These  difficulties 
account,  perhaps,  for  the  anonymous  publication  of  several  of 
his  works,  ^  and  explain  why  he  took  the  usual  expedient  of 
having  so  many  of  his  books  printed  outside  of  France.  It  by 
no  means  follows,  however,  because  his  books  bore  the  imprint 
of  a  certain  place,  that  they  were  actually  printed  there.  All 
of  his  works,  for  example,  which  were  marked  Berlin  came  from 
the  press  of  Neuchatel.^  But  to  get  his  works  printed  was  but 
the  beginning  of  his  troubles;  he  then  had  the  further  difficulty 
of  getting  them  introduced  into  France.  When  he  did  secure 
a  permission,  he  could  never  be  sure  that  it  might  not  be  with- 
drawn at  any  time.'  The  Correspondance,  for  instance,  which 
he  had  tried  to  introduce  clandestinely,  was  seized  by  the 
French  government,  so  that  he  lost  the  whole  edition  and  was 
forced  to  mourn  at  the  same  time  the  loss  of  ten  thousand 
livres  and  the  destruction  of  a  work  which  he  had  hoped  might 
hasten  the  reign  of  liberty  in  France.  Taught  by  this  lesson, 
he  determined  to  be  more  cautious  and  to  conceal  the  fact  that 
his  real  object  was  reform;  to  quote  his  own  expression,  to  sub- 
stitute the  mine  for  the  open  assault.  The  mine  which  he  pre- 
pared was  an  account  of  the  English  constitution.  "The 
French  government,  however,  fearing  to  see  much  light  thrown 
on  the  subject,  was  on  its  guard.  Some  deception  was  neces- 
sary. I  therefore  asked  permission  to  print  a  journal  which 
was  to  be  called  Le  Tableau  exact  des  sciences  et  des  arts  en 
Angleterre.  There  was  nothing  alarming  about  that  title,  and 
the  support  of  certain  influential  persons  secured  me  a  permit, 
to  which,  however,  was  attached  the  condition  that  the  jour- 
nal must  be  written  and  printed  in  England,  reprinted  at  Paris 
and  submitted  to  a  very  rigorous  censure."  * 

1  At  least  three  of  his  early  works  were  published  anonymously. 

*  "II  y  a  des  exemplaires  de  cette  Sdition  [1781]  avec  des  litres  ajoutSs  aprh 
coup,  qui  portent  Vindication  d' Utrecht.  Tons  des  ecrits  de  Brissot  qui  portent 
la  rubrique  de  Berlin  ont  6te  imprim.es  a  Neuchdtel  d'ou  Us  etaient  ensuite  im- 
ports clandestinement  en  France."  Edition  of  1836  of  the  Thiorie.  Avis  de 
I'iditeur,  i,  1,  note. 

»  MSmoires,  i,  329.  *  Reponse  d  tous  les  libellistes,  15. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  55 

The  mine  was,  in  fact,  Brissot's  favorite  mode  of  attack  and 
one  which  he  employed  in  several  other  works.  What  would 
have  been  considered  radical  and  dangerous  doctrines  if  put 
into  practice,  he  concealed,  for  example,  in  the  case  of  the 
Theorie  des  lois  criminelles  in  an  apparently  harmless  treatise  on 
the  theoretical  side  of  the  subject;  while  the  Bibliotheque  philo- 
sophique  was  announced  as  a  dictionary  of  information,^  and 
the  work,  De  la  France  et  des  iltats  Unis  as  a  treatment  of  com- 
mercial relations.^  In  short,  the  real  object  of  all  these  works, 
as  well  as  of  most  of  his  other  writings,  was  to  bring  about 
radical  reform  —  in  the  phraseology  of  the  declaration  of 
rights,  liberty,  equality,  and  sovereignty  of  the  people  —  by 
peaceable  means  if  possible,  but  if  necessary  by  revolution. 

The  reception  which  these  various  works  received  differed. 
Some  of  them,  such  as  the  Independant  a  Vordre  des  avocats 
and  the  Examen  critique  des  voyages  dans  VAmerique  septen- 
trionale  de  M.  le  Marquis  de  Chastellux,  in  part,  perhaps,  be- 
cause of  their  polemic  nature,  attracted  considerable  attention 
and  provoked  the  criticism  of  journalists  and  pamphleteers.^ 
The  work,  De  la  France  et  des  jStats  Unis,  though  it  was  like- 
wise criticized,  seems  to  have  had  much  success  on  its  own 
merits.^  Brissot,  indeed,  complains  that  the  journals  paid  no 
attention  to  it,  but  at  least  it  was  translated  into  several  lan- 
guages.^ Some  of  his  other  works  apparently  found  but  few 
readers  besides  the  censors.  According  to  Petion,  who,  however, 
as  Brissot's  friend,  was  perhaps  prejudiced,  they  deserved  a 
better  fate.  Le  Sang  innocent  venge,  he  declared,  was  full  of 
energy  and  eloquence,  the  letters  to  the  Emperor  Joseph  were 
veritable  masterpieces,  and  the  Bibliotheque  philosophique,  if  it 

1  MSmoires,  i,  226.  *  See  p.  48. 

'  The  IndSpendant  d.  Vordre  des  avocats  created  a  great  furor  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  bar.  A  couple  of  pamphlets  were  written  against  it  and  steps  taken 
to  suppress  it.  Bibliotheque  philosophique,  vi,  344.  On  the  Examen  critique, 
see  the  Journal  de  Paris  of  November  16,  1786,  for  a  defense  of  Chastellux's 
opinion  of  the  Quakers. 

*  See  the  Mercure  politique  of  June  30,  1787,  for  an  attack  on  De  la  France 
and  for  the  answers  of  Brissot  and  Claviere. 

*  See  Bibliography. 


56  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

had  only  been  the  work  of  a  writer  with  an  already  established 
reputation,  would  have  been  celebrated  far  and  wide.^  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  Brissot's  writings  at  best  were  comparatively 
little  known,  and  were  it  not  for  their  relation  to  his  subsequent 
important  political  career,  they  might  remain  forgotten. 

The  reason  for  his  failure  as  a  writer  is  not  far  to  seek.  He 
was  not  original.  What  he  said  had,  for  the  most  part,  been 
said  before  by  such  writers  as  Montesquieu  and  Rousseau, 
Diderot  and  Voltaire,  Beccaria  and  Filangieri.  Moreover,  it 
had  been  said  more  effectively.  The  trouble  with  Brissot  was 
that  he  was  so  absorbingly  interested  in  knowledge  for  its  own 
sake  that  he  did  not  realize  the  necessity  of  clothing  it  in 
pleasing  garb.  He  had  a  prodigious  memory  for  all  that  he 
read  ^  and  so  keen  a  relish  for  information  as  such  that  he 
sometimes  forgot  "that  there  is  nothing  so  hete  as  a  fact."  His 
constant  impulse  to  popularize  knowledge,  and  to  teach  others 
what  he  had  just  learned  himself,  would,  as  M.  Aulard  re- 
marks, have  been  pedantic  if  it  had  not  been  so  generous  and 
disinterested.  But  he  was  always  in  too  much  haste  to  popu- 
larize to  pay  sufficient  attention  to  form.  To  quote  M.  Aulard 
again:  "What  Brissot  lacks  as  a  writer  is  style.  ...  He  is  clear 
and  fluent,  but  his  pen  runs  along  without  any  attention  to 
form,  his  only  care  being  to  get  down  all  he  has  to  say."  '  At 
the  same  time  his  writing  is  simple  and  direct,  but  he  was  lack- 
ing in  a  light  touch,  the  ability  to  make  an  abstruse  subject 
attractive;  and,  moreover,  he  had  absolutely  no  sense  of  humor. 
In  one  or  two  of  his  early  works  he  made  use  of  sarcasm,  but 
he  soon  realized  that  sarcasm  was  not  his  forte,  and  abandoned 
it.  His  work,  further,  is  unrelieved  by  imagery  or  imagination. 
Although  he  was  sentimental  to  a  degree,  one  can  hardly  con- 
ceive of  him  as  a  writer  of  real  poetry.  When  roused  by  great 
emotion,  his  writing  became  forceful,  but  ordinarily  it  lacked 
force,  for  the  same  reason  that  it  lacked  finish. 

But,  although  Brissot's  writing  is  not  of  great  importance 

1  Petion,  Notice  sur  Brissot,  Vatel,  ii,  224-34.  «  Ibid.,  ii,  222. 

«  Aulard,  Lcs  Orateurs  dc  la  legislative,  i,  223,  227-28. 


AUTHOR  AND  JOURNALIST  57 

as  literature,  in  connection  with  his  future  career  it  is  of  the 
greatest  importance.  It  shows,  as  has  been  seen,  the  interests 
of  a  reformer.  It  also  shows  a  reformer  who,  on  little  provoca- 
tion, would  become  a  revolutionist.  In  the  first  place,  he  was 
tremendously  in  earnest.  That  he  had  a  mission  he  did  not 
doubt,  nor  did  he  lack  ^prophet's  confidence  in  its  righteousness. 
His  Bibliotheque  'philosophique,  to  take  but  a  single  example, 
was  to  be  useful  to  his  own  age  and  useful  to  posterity.  In  the 
variety  of  his  interests  and  in  his  unceasing  efforts  for  reform 
of  all  kinds,  he  suggests  Benjamin  Franklin,  but  unlike  Frank- 
lin, he  had  not  the  vestige  of  a  sense  of  humor,  and  took  all  the 
world,  including  himself,  with  profound  seriousness.  As  a  con- 
sequence, he  was  often  unable  to  put  himself  in  the  place  of 
others,  and  so  did  not  come  to  an  understanding  of  the  men 
with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  But  even  men  with  whom  he  failed 
to  make  connections  and  who  were  inclined  to  mock  at  his 
seriousness  could  not  help  but  admire  his  enthusiasm,  even 
when  it  seemed  to  them  misplaced  to  the  point  of  absurdity. 
This  enthusiasm  was  not  always  disinterested.  He  was 
intensely  ambitious  for  himself,  as  well  as  for  his  cause,  and  in 
whatever  else  he  was  lacking  he  did  not  lack  belief  in  his  own 
powers.  From  very  early  childhood  he  made  large  plans  and 
was  possessed  of  abundant  confidence  to  carry  them  out.  Noth- 
ing could  daunt  him.  He  was  ready  to  WTite  on  the  most  ab- 
struse subjects.  While  his  companions  were  painfully  strug- 
gling with  the  rudiments  of  a  foreign  language,  or  striving  to 
master  the  elements  of  legal  studies,  or  enjoying  plays  in  their 
native  tongue,  Brissot  was  working  out  a  theory  of  all  the  lan- 
guages of  Europe,  writing  treatises  on  canon  law,^  and  laying 
plans  for  a  theater  for  foreign  plays.^  Witness,  too,  his  schemes 
for  all-inclusive  philosophical  dictionaries,  for  international 
societies  and  universal  brotherhoods,  not  to  mention  his  temer- 
ity in  bringing  them  to  the  attention  of  the  most  distinguished 
men  of  his  time.  With  this  ambition  went  an  indefatigable 
perseverance.  His  faith  in  his  ultimate  success  was  such  that 
^  See  p.  7.  *  See  p.  11. 


58  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

nothing  could  discourage  him.  If  one  distinguished  critic  dis- 
approved of  his  work,  he  submitted  it  to  another;  if  one  edition 
of  a  book  were  suppressed,  he  prepared  a  second;  if  his  cher- 
ished plans  for  a  newspaper  did  not  meet  with  a  ready  wel- 
come, he  sought  new  friends  and  began  again. 

His  optimism  equaled  his  ambition  and  his  perseverance, 
with  the  result  that  he  often  undertook  impossible  schemes. 
He  established  newspapers  for  which  there  was  no  demand,  he 
entered  into  unwise  business  arrangements  for  the  publication 
of  his  works,  and  on  the  strength  of  the  slightest  encourage- 
ment he  embarked  with  a  light  heart  on  undertakings  from 
which  more  cautious  people  would  have  shrunk  in  dismay. 
With  the  same  breath  in  which  he  expressed  contempt  for  those 
vain  persons  who  thought  they  could  compile  dictionaries  and 
edit  newspapers,  he  had  the  temerity  to  announce  a  dictionary 
and  a  newspaper  of  his  own,  in  supreme  confidence  that  he 
could  succeed  where  others  had  failed,^ 

These  qualities  account  both  for  Brissot's  success  and  for 
his  failure.  It  needs  no  prophet's  vision  to  see  in  his  earnest- 
ness, ambition,  and  optimism  a  leader  in  the  approaching 
Revolution.  But  the  defects  of  those  very  qualities  —  the 
over-seriousness,  the  stubbornness  which  would  not  abandon  a 
hopeless  scheme,  and  the  optimism  which  would  not  see  in- 
surmountable obstacles  —  explain  also  why  his  career  finally 
ended  in  failure. 

»  De  la  ViritS.  142-43. 


CHAPTER  IV 

brissot's  travels  in  the  united  states 

Among  his  many  and  varied  interests  no  subject  had  for 
Brissot  a  greater  charm  than  the  United  States.  It  epito- 
mized for  him  the  Uberty  and  democracy  which  he  had  longed 
for  in  France,  and  furnished  the  ideal  toward  which  he  hoped 
to  see  France  progress.  In  pursuance  of  this  ideal  he  was  al- 
ways referring  in  his  writings  to  American  example  as  a  model, 
not  only  for  France,  but  for  all  Europe. 

Works  dealing  with  America  had,  therefore,  a  special  fas- 
cination for  him.  This  was  particularly  true  of  Crevecoeur's 
Letters  of  an  American  Farmer.^  Crevecoeur,  like  Brissot,  was 
an  admirer  of  America;  and  after  reading  his  book  Brissot  felt 
sure  that  he  had  found  a  congenial  spirit  and  hastened  to  make 
his  acquaintance.  It  was  Crevecoeur's  criticism  of  slavery  and 
his  appreciation  of  the  Quakers  which  especially  won  Brissot's 
heart ;  and  when  shortly  afterward,  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux, 
in  his  Voyages  dans  VAmerique  septentrionale,  ventured  to  ex- 
press opinions  not  altogether  favorable  to  the  negroes  and  the 
Quakers,  Brissot  seized  the  cudgels  in  defense  of  Crevecoeur 
and  rushed  into  the  arena  with  more  zeal  than  discretion.  His 
weapon  was  a  pamphlet  which  he  called  an  Examen  critique,^ 
in  which  he  compared  Chastellux  most  unfavorably  with  Creve- 
coeur, and  boasted  of  his  friendship  with  the  latter.^  Chastel- 
lux's  book,  Brissot  declared,  contained  poison,  for  he  had  had 

^  Published  in  London  early  in  1782,  and  in  France  in  1784,  under  the  title 
of  Lettres  d'un  cultivateur  amiricain.  Saint^John  de  Crevecoeur,  by  R.  de 
Crevecoeur,  295-96. 

'  Examen  critique  des  voyages  dans  VAmerique  septentrionale  de  M.  le  Marquis 
de  Chastellux,  ou  Lettre  a  M.  le  Marquis  de  Chastelbix  dans  laquelle  on  refute 
principalement  ses  opinions  sur  les  Quakers,  sur  les  negres,  sur  le  peuple  et  sur 
Vhomme. 

'  Saint-John  de  Crevecceur,  by  R.  de  Crevecoeur. 


60  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  audacity  to  assert  that  the  Quakers  were  guilty  of  Jesuit- 
ism, were  indifferent  to  the  public  good,  and  were  averse  to 
shedding  blood;  though  when  it  came  to  commercial  profit  they 
were  ready  enough  to  sell  provisions  at  a  high  price,  to  foe  as 
well  as  to  friend.  In  answer  Brissot  maintained  that  Chastel- 
lux  produced  no  evidence  to  substantiate  his  statements,  and 
that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  talking  about.  The  com- 
parison with  the  Jesuits  was  most  unfair,  Brissot  continued, 
since  the  Quakers  did  not  try  to  exert  authority,  had  no  ambi- 
tion, and  were  decidedly  tolerant.  To  furnish  provisions  to 
both  Americans  and  English  was  not  a  crime,  neither  was  it  a 
crime  to  demand  a  good  price  for  them.  The  Quakers  had, 
moreover,  a  high  standard  of  morality,  and  their  religion  was 
not,  as  Chastellux  seemed  to  think,  a  subject  for  jest.^  As  for 
their  political  ideas,  Chastellux  had  asserted  that  they  were 
indifferent  to  the  public  good.  If  by  that,  Brissot  retorted, 
Chastellux  meant  that  they  were  indifferent  to  the  disputes  of 
sovereigns,  it  might  be  true,  but  indifferent  to  the  interests  of 
humanity  they  certainly  were  not,  as  witness  their  work  for 
the  negroes.  On  this  latter  subject,  too,  Brissot  differed  from 
Chastellux,  and  took  umbrage  at  his  claim  that  the  negroes  had 
not  the  sensitiveness  of  the  whites;  they  were  equally  sensitive, 
he  maintained.  Chastellux  and  he  were  once  again  in  disagree- 
ment on  the  importance  of  the  art  of  war.  To  pay  it  the  atten- 
tion which  Chastellux  did,  Brissot  declared,  was  to  favor  aris- 
tocracy. This,  indeed,  was  the  root  of  the  whole  difficulty. 
Brissot  and  Crevecceur  in  their  attitude  toward  America  were 
in  sympathy  with  democracy,  and  Chastellux  was  not.  But 
Crevecceur  was  not  willing  to  go  as  far  as  Brissot,  and  as  Chas- 
tellux and  Crevecceur  had  common  connections,  Brissot's  at- 
tack on  Chastellux  and  defense  of  Crevecceur  put  the  latter 
in  a  very  embarrassing  position,  and  involved  him  in  a  contro- 
versy much  against  his  will.^ 

*  Brissot  admitted,  however,  it  might  be  because  Chastelhix  did  not  under- 
stand the  English  language  that  he  found  their  scrvire  amusing. 

2  SaintrJohn  de  Crevecceur,  by  R.  de  Crevecceur,  130,  162.    See  p.  70.   Also 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  61 

Brissot's  interest  in  the  negroes  and  their  protectors,  the 
Quakers,  as  well  as  in  the  United  States  as  a  possible  place 
for  emigration,  inspired  him  with  an  ardent  desire  to  make  a 
journey  himself  to  the  new  world.  One  obstacle  stood  in  the 
way,  —  he  had  no  money.  His  first  thought  was  to  apply  for 
a  government  position  of  some  kind  which  would  take  him  to 
America.  He  accordingly  drafted  a  note  to  M.  Colonne,  set- 
ting forth  the  desirability  of  collecting  information  about  the 
new  world  which  might  be  useful  to  France,  and  stating  as  his 
special  qualifications  for  such  a  mission  his  researches  on  the 
relation  of  England  to  India,  his  numerous  works  published 
with  a  utilitarian  purpose,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  Eng- 
lish language  and  the  English  constitution.^  It  is  doubtful 
whether  this  application  was  ever  sent.  At  all  events,  it  came 
to  naught.  The  idea  then  occurred  to  him  of  getting  some  sort 
of  a  private  endowment.  He  knew  several  persons,  he  WTote, 
who  might  be  willing  to  join  together  for  this  object,  and  in 
general  for  "all  projects  tending  to  favor  liberty  and  the  prog- 
ress of  the  light."  To  extend  the  connections  of  France  in 
America  would  be  the  apparent  object. ^  This  frank  avowal  of 
his  purpose  made  the  scheme  look  very  like  an  underhand  at- 
tempt to  further  his  own  personal  ends  under  the  cloak  of  a 
public  enterprise  for  the  general  good.  And  this  would  have 
been  the  case  had  he  been  working  solely  for  his  own  interest, 
but  though  he  may  have  had  visions  of  wealth  to  be  gained  for 
himself  through  land  speculation,  the  situation  was  saved  by 
his  firm  conviction  that  in  trying  to  bring  about  closer  relations 
between  France  and  the  United  States,  he  ivas  working  for  the 
public  good,  and  especially  for  the  advancement  of  France. 

To  this  end  he  called  in  his  friends,  Claviere,  Crevecoeur, 

and  Bergasse,  and  in  company  with  them  organized  a  Gallo- 

Americaine  society.  As  the  society  was  to  be  universal  in  its 

Journal  de  Paris,  November  16,  1786,  where  Philippe  Mazzei,  under  the 
name  of  Ferri,  defends  Chastellux  against  the  attacks  of  Brissot;  and  Nouveau 
Voyage  de  Brissot,  ii,  190. 

1  Draft  of  a  letter  to  Colonne,  April  4,  1786.   Correspondance,  90-92. 

*  Rough  draft  of  a  plan  for  a  voyage  to  America,  Correspondance,  92-93. 


62  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

scope,  it  was  only  fitting  that  there  be  no  religious  qualification 
required  for  membership  in  it,  but  that  it  be  open  to  men  of  all 
faiths  and  creeds.^  " To  be  useful  to  both  the  old  world  and  the 
new,"  Brissot  wrote,  in  speaking  of  their  aims,  such  "is  the 
purpose  of  this  society.  Everything  which  is  connected  with 
this  end  is  to  be  the  object  of  its  attention.  It  is  to  be  composed 
of  men  of  every  country,  of  every  profession,  of  every  religion, 
provided  they  are  capable  of  devoting  themselves  constantly 
and  seriously  to  the  good  of  humanity."  ^ 

Their  plans  for  universal  good,  irrespective  of  national  dif- 
ferences, received  a  slight  check  from  Philips,^  Brissot's  English 
friend,  to  whom  he  had  written  asking  for  information  on  the 
state  of  English  commerce.  In  reply  Philips  wrote  that  while 
he  could  answer  most  of  Brissot's  questions,  he  gave  him  fair 
warning  that  he  himself  was  too  good  an  Englishman  to  sacri- 
fice the  interests  of  his  country  to  friendship,  and  that,  in  con- 
sequence, he  would  undertake  nothing  which  might  tend  to  di- 
minish English  commerce.*  Not  at  all  daunted  by  this  rebufiP, 
they  continued  their  plans.  Persons  possessed  of  ideas  or 
information  useful  to  them  were  to  be  sought  out;  English 
and  American  newspapers  were  to  be  secured,  and  the  society 
in  seeking  the  good  of  France  was  to  devote  itself  not  only  to 
furthering  the  external  relations  of  France,  but  also  to  improv- 
ing its  moral  and  economic  condition  within.  It  would  be  ill- 
advised,  however,  they  decided,  to  speak  too  freely  of  their 
larger  purpose.  In  their  prospectus,  therefore,  they  announced 
the  society  as  an  organization  for  the  dissemination  of  informa- 
tion concerning  France  and  the  United  States,  with  a  view 
to  promoting  closer  commercial  relations  between  them.  The 
membership  was  to  be  limited,  consisting  of  twelve  persons  in 
Paris,  twenty-four  in  the  provinces,  the  same  number  in  the 
United  States,  and  of  an  indefinite  number  in  other  foreign 

1  Proces-verbaux  de  la  SociSt^  Gallo-AmSricaine.  Correspondance,  111. 

2  De  la  France  (edition  of  1791),  409,  note. 

»  James  Philips,  an  English  Quaker  and  bookseller  with  whom  Brissot  was 
on  terms  of  friendship. 
*  Correspondance,  107. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  63 

countries.  For  admission  to  resident  membership  a  unanimous 
vote  was  necessary.  Quality,  rather  than  quantity,  was  thus 
emphasized,  perhaps  with  a  further  idea  of  making  the  society 
attractive  by  reason  of  its  exclusiveness.  Although  the  mem- 
bers among  themselves  may  have  cherished  large  schemes  for 
the  universal  good,  their  discussions  were  of  a  decidedly  prac- 
tical character.  Brissot,  for  instance,  presented  a  memoir 
drawn  up  by  a  member  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society, 
giving  a  list  of  trees  indigenous  to  America,  which  might,  with 
profit,  be  naturalized  in  France.  In  turn  he  proposed  to  bene- 
fit America  by  introducing  a  new  French  process  for  the  cheaper 
manufacture  of  paper.  ^  The  work  of  the  society  at  home  was 
soon  somewhat  interrupted  by  the  departure  of  Crevecoeur  for 
New  York,  where  he  went  to  take  up  his  work  as  Consul  of 
France.  It  was  an  opportunity,  however,  for  the  extension  of 
the  influence  of  the  society  in  America,  and  Crevecoeur  set  out 
charged  with  the  mission  of  spreading  abroad  news  of  its  prin- 
ciples and  purpose.^ 

As  one  contribution  to  this  immediate  end,  that  of  establish- 
ing better  commercial  relations  between  France  and  the  United 
States,  Brissot  had  undertaken  to  write  a  book  dealing  with 
economic  conditions  in  the  two  countries.  That  there  was 
great  need  of  such  a  book  he  was  convinced.^  He  was  equally 
convinced,  at  least  at  first,  of  his  own  ability  to  meet  that 
need;  but  soon  finding  the  task  rather  too  much  for  him,  he 
sought  and  secured  the  cooperation  of  Claviere.  This  work, 
De  la  France  et  des  jStats  Unis,  was  therefore  published  under 
their  joint  names.* 

^  Proces-verbaux  de  la  Sociite  Gallo-AmSricaine.   Correspondance,  103-36. 

2  Ibid.,  134-36. 

'  As  one  excuse  for  his  work,  Brissot  quoted  a  remark  of  Thomas  Paine: 
"Je  remarquerai  que  je  nai  pas  encore  vu  une  description  de  V Amirique  faite  en 
Europe  sur  lefidMitS  de  laquelle  on  puisse  compter."   De  la  France,  7. 

*  De  la  France  et  des  Etats  Unis,  ou  de  V importance  de  la  revolution  de  VAmir- 
ique  pour  le  bonheur  de  la  France  ;  des  rapports  de  ce  royaume  et  des  Etats  Unis, 
des  avantages  rSciproques  qu'ils  peuvent  retirer  de  leurs  liaisons  de  commerce,  et 
enfin  de  la  situation  actuelle  des  £tats-Unis.   See  p.  90. 

The  title-page  contains  the  following  passage  from  a  speech  of  Lafayette  to 


64  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  argument  —  already  referred  to  in  connection  with 
Brissot's  writings  —  was  developed  with  care,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  much  material  drawn  from  documentary  sources. 
It  was  as  follows:  France  can  derive  much  profit  from  the 
American  Revolution,  in  the  first  place  because  that  revolution 
has  increased  human  knowledge  and  fiu-thered  the  reform  of 
social  prejudices;  and  in  the  second  place,  because  it  has  made 
people  see  the  value  of  commerce.  England  is  most  alive  to  the 
latter  point  and  is  now  bestirring  herself  to  develop  commercial 
relations  with  the  United  States.  England  is  better  informed 
on  the  subject  than  France,  owing  to  the  better  understanding 
there  of  the  theoretical  science  of  commerce,  and  to  the  free- 
dom of  the  press.  ^  France  also  ought  to  bestir  herself,  but  in 
the  first  place  her  ignorance  must  be  dissipated. 

Having  thus  sketched  the  end  to  be  attained,  Brissot  and 
Claviere  then  proceeded  to  lay  down  general  principles  of  com- 
mercial relations.  Direct  commerce,  they  argued,  is  better  than 
indirect,  and  cheaper;  mutual  interest  is  the  surest  means  of 
sustaining  commerce  between  two  nations;  the  prosperity  of  a 
nation  does  not  consist  in  a  cash  balance  in  its  favor;  metals 
are  not  real  riches;  the  only  way  of  estimating  correctly  the 
increase  of  commerce  is  by  the  increase  of  the  population. 

Mutual  interest,  they  continued,  that  most  important  fac- 
tor in  developing  commerce,  exists  between  France  and  the 
United  States.  France  needs  new  markets  in  which  to  dispose 
of  her  superfluous  productions,  to  encom*age  her  manufactures, 
and  to  employ  labor.  Commerce  with  the  United  States  would 
tend  to  better  conditions  in  France,  and  moreover,  all  is  ripe 
for  it,  for  just  as  France  needs  a  market  for  her  manufactured 

the  American  Congress:  "Le  passS  assure  V alliance  de  la  France  avec  les  Etats- 
Unis,  Vavenir  ne  fait  quagrandir  la  perspective,  et  Von  verra  se  multiplier  ces 
rapports  qu'un  commerce  independani  et  avantageux  doit  produire,  en  raison  de 
ce  quil  est  mieux  connu." 

The  work  is  dedicated  to  the  American  Congress  and  the  friends  of  the 
United  States  in  both  hemispheres. 

1  In  this  work  Brissot  made  frequent  comparisons  between  England  and 
France,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  latter. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  65 

articles,  the  United  States  needs  those  articles.  As  a  new  coun- 
try, the  latter  must  first  develop  her  agriculture  and  de- 
pend on  Europe  for  manufactured  goods.  At  the  same  time, 
she  can  furnish  in  exchange  her  own  raw  products. 

Among  the  things  which  she  can  obtain  from  France  are 
wine,  brandy,  oil,  olives,  dried  fruits,  cloth,  linens,  silks,  ribbons, 
and  hats.  France,  on  the  other  hand,  needs  the  raw  products 
of  America,  such  as  tobacco,^  fish,  whale  oil,  candles,  grain, 
and  materials  for  shipbuilding.  All  this  commerce,  Brissot  and 
Claviere  held,  should  be  encouraged  to  the  greatest  possible 
extent;  the  old  idea  of  maintaining  a  balance  of  trade  was 
absurd  and  erroneous.  Moreover,  —  and  this  was  a  pivotal 
point  of  their  thesis,  —  there  should  be  the  least  possible  inter- 
ference with  trade  on  the  part  of  the  government.  Freedom,  not 
protection,  was  the  law  of  nature.  "It  is  a  misfortune,"  they 
wrote,  "that  the  United  States  was  not  able  from  the  start  to 
adopt  so  noble  a  system;  that  in  order  to  pay  the  public  debt, 
they  were  forced  to  have  recourse  to  this  miserable  system 
of  ancient  governments — to  tax  foreign  merchandise.  Every 
other  tax  except  that  upon  the  soil  is  a  source  of  error.  It  is  in 
consequence  of  such  errors  that  there  has  arisen  in  Europe  that 
system  of  protective  duties  for  national  industry,  whose  effect 
is  to  mislead  governments  till  they  are  persuaded  that  they 
have  in  their  hands  a  creative  force  equal  to  that  of  the 
Almighty."  2 

Finally,  they  declared,  there  is  no  reason  to  hesitate  to  em- 
bark on  this  commerce  on  account  of  the  condition  of  the 
United  States.  Despite  reports  to  the  contrary,  it  is  by  no 
means  in  a  desperate  condition.  There  is  no  anarchy;  the  war 
with  the  Indians  will  not  last;  the  troubles  over  paper  money 
are  but  local.    There  is,  therefore,  every  reason  why  France 

^  Brissot  here  deals  with  the  government  monopoly  of  tobacco.  He  would 
have  this  removed,  and  would  favor  a  plan  proposed  by  Lafayette,  by  which 
leaf  tobacco,  coming  into  the  country,  would  be  subject  only  to  a  very  moder- 
ate duty.  Then  if  it  were  desirable,  a  further  sum  might  be  paid  for  permission 
to  manufacture  and  sell. 

2  De  la  France,  293. 


66  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

should  profit  by  her  opportunity,  and,  to  the  utmost  extent  of 
her  ability,  develop  commercial  relations  with  the  United  States.^ 
The  investigations  in  which  Brissot  had  engaged  in  order 
to  ^vTite  this  work  only  increased  his  longing  to  make  a  journey 
to  the  new  world,  in  order  to  see  for  himself  the  conditions 
which  he  had  been  describing.  About  a  year  after  its  publica- 
tion the  longed-for  opportunity  came,  not  through  the  govern- 
ment, as  he  had  at  first  hoped,  but  through  his  friend  Claviere, 
who,  with  two  other  gentlemen,  had  entered  into  an  agree- 
ment to  speculate  in  the  American  debt.^  Some  one  was  needed 
to  go  to  America  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  Brissot  was 
precisely  the  man  they  wanted.  He  was  already  in  corre- 
spondence with  the  chief  authors  of  the  American  Revolution; 
he  was  well  informed  on  conditions  in  America,  and  he  was 
deeply  interested  in  the  financial  situation.^  He  was  accord- 
ingly offered  the  chance,  and  he  eagerly  seized  it.^  Mr.  Daniel 
Parker,  who  was  connected  with  the  operations  of  the  Ameri- 
can speculators,  William  Duer  and  Andrew  Craigie,  and  who 
seems  to  have  been  back  of  the  whole  proceeding,  wrote  to  the 
latter,  in  Brissot's  behalf,  and  pointed  out  that  in  addition  to 
Brissot's  other  qualifications,  the  fact  of  his  having  been  known 
as  a  literary  man  would  make  him  a  safe  agent  as  he  would  not 
be  suspected  of  any  financial  schemes.^ 

^  A  contemporary  criticism  from  an  English  point  of  view  is  of  interest.  It 
is  from  the  Monthly  Review,  lxxvi,  593.  "Messrs.  Claviere  and  De  Warville 
are  spirited  writers,  but  sometimes  they  are  too  violent.  The  ardor  of  liberty 
is  liable  to  break  out  into  the  flame  of  licentiousness,  unless  restrained  by  the 
superior  judgment  of  calm  and  unbiased  reasoners.  The  authors  are  justly  en- 
titled to  the  united  thanks  of  the  French  and  the  Americans;  for  they  have 
plainly  shown  the  mutual  advantages  that  may  accrue  from  a  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  two  nations;  and  they  have,  at  the  same  time,  given 
a  just  view  of  a  foreign  trade  and  the  beneflts  thence  arising." 

2  The  names  of  the  two  gentlemen  were  Stadinski  and  Cazenove,  —  the 
latter  an  Amsterdam  banker.   Correspondance,  179. 

*  For  a  letter  to  Jefferson  making  inquiries  as  ,to  the  public  debt,  see 
Appendix  A. 

*  Petion,  Notice,  in  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  les  Girondins,  ii,  236. 

*  Parker  to  Andrew  Craigie,  June  2,  1788,  Craigie  Papers,  American  Anti- 
quarian Society.  See  Appendix  A. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  67 

His  contract  provided  that  he  was  to  start  at  the  earhest 
possible  moment,  and  on  his  arrival  at  New  York  he  was  to 
seek  information  on  the  following  points:  first,  the  present 
total  of  the  domestic  debt  of  Congress;  second,  the  price  at 
which  contracts  for  that  debt  are  sold;  third,  what  are  the  best 
contracts;  fourth,  the  way  in  which  the  interest  is  paid;  fifth, 
the  probable  date  of  reimbursement;  sixth,  events  in  the 
United  States  —  such,  for  example,  as  the  ratification  by  the 
states  of  the  new  plan  for  a  federal  system  —  which  might  affect 
the  stability  of  the  debt;  seventh,  the  debts  of  each  of  the 
states.  As  soon  as  he  secured  any  useful  information,  he  was 
to  inform  each  of  the  three  men  respectively,  and  he  was, 
moreover,  not  to  give  to  any  one  else  such  information  as  might 
lead  to  rival  speculation.  On  the  other  hand,  Claviere,  Caz- 
enove,  and  Stadinski  agreed  to  pay  Brissot  ten  thousand  livres 
for  the  expenses  of  his  journey  and  investigations,  and  to  give 
him  besides  a  commission  on  their  purchase  in  American  funds.  ^ 

This  was  to  Brissot  a  heaven-sent  opportunity.  Though 
commissioned  to  study  financial  conditions,  he  now  had  the 
chance  which  he  had  long  sought,  to  investigate  the  state  of 
the  negroes  and  to  make  connections  between  their  bene- 
factors, the  Quakers,  and  the  society  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs, 
which  he  had  just  established  in  Paris ;  ^  and  incidentally,  per- 
haps, to  substantiate  his  arguments  against  Chastellux. 

In  the  second  place,  he  wished  to  investigate  the  country  as 
a  possible  place  of  settlement.  He  was  thoroughly  weary  of  the 

^  Contrat  de  Brissot  avec  Claviere,  Cazenove,  et  Stadinski,  pour  sa  mission 
aux  Stats  Unis.   Correspondance,  179-81. 

According  to  Petion,  he  asked  only  that  his  expenses  be  paid.  Notice  sur 
Brissot,  Vatel,  ii,  236. 

Brissot  evidently  took  every  means  to  inform  himself  on  financial  questions, 
as  is  evident  by  a  rough  draft  of  a  questionnaire  on  matters  pertaining  to  the 
debt  of  the  United  States.  It  consists  chiefly  of  answers  to  questions  previously 
propounded.  Correspondance,  181-84.  Similar  notes,  questions,  and  answers, 
including  a  list  of  questions  proposSes  par  M.  Stadinski,  are  found  in  an  inter- 
esting collection  of  Brissot's  papers  loaned  to  the  writer  by  M.  Charles  Vellay, 
of  Paris. 

*  See  p.  184;  MSmoires,  ii,  74. 


68  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

limitations  imposed  by  despotism,  and  had  formed  a  tenta- 
tive plan  with  some  of  his  friends,  to  emigrate  to  America. 
Brissot  had  a  good  deal  of  the  frontiersman  in  his  make-up, 
and  the  prospect  of  establishing  a  permanent  home  for  him- 
self on  the  borders  of  civilization  appealed  to  his  adventurous 
disposition.  Before  embarking  on  such  an  enterprise,  however, 
some  preliminary  investigation  was  desirable.  This  Brissot 
now  proposed  to  make.^  He  not  only  had  a  general  plan,  but 
was  incidentally  considering  certain  definite  places  as  feasible 
for  settlement,  as  is  evident  from  the  character  of  the  informa- 
tion he  was  seeking.  These,  for  instance,  are  some  of  the  ques- 
tions which  he  noted:  "What  kind  of  goods  would  one  need  to 
bring  from  France  for  family  use.?"  "What  part  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Mohawks  is  the  best?  "  "  Would  it  not  be  better  to 
be  somewhere  along  the  Hudson?"  "Would  there  be  any 
hope"  —  and  here  crops  up  Brissot's  never-ceasing  desire  to 
take  part  in  public  affairs  —  "for  a  Frenchman  who  settled 
there,  of  being  elected  to  the  county  assemblies?"  "What  is 
the  cost  of  the  passage  from  France  to  New  York  for  each  per- 
son,—  for  a  child?"  2  A  third  motive  —  one  which  at  the 
time  he  naturally  said  less  about  —  was  to  learn  in  America 
the  means  of  bringing  about  a  like  revolution  in  France.^ 

For  this  task  of  investigating  American  conditions  Brissot 
was  well  fitted.  He  had  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  language  of  the 
country;  he  was  already  in  correspondence  with  some  of  its 
most  famous  men;  ^  he  had  valuable  letters  of  introduction;  ^ 
and,  moreover,  he  was  possessed  of  considerable  reputation  as 
a  writer  on  America  —  all  of  which  gave  him  an  unusual  chance 

^  RSponse  d.  tons  les  libellistes,  25.  See  also  RSplique  de  J.  P.  Brissot  d  Stanis' 
las  Clermont,  9. 

2  This  is  a  part  of  the  same  questionnaire  in  which  financial  matters  are  dis- 
cussed. Correspondance,  184-86.  Similar  lists  of  questions  on  agricultural  life 
in  the  United  States  are  found  in  M.  Vellay's  collection,  referred  to  above. 

3  Projct  de  dSfense,  Mi  moires,  ii,  275. 

*  For  instance,  announcement  is  made  in  the  Charavay  Catalogue  of  1858,  of 
sixty-five  letters  addressed  to  Brissot  by  Americans.  Correspondance,  aver- 
tissemcnt,  11.   See  Bibliography. 

'  Lafayette  gave  him  a  letter  to  Washington.  Correspondance,  192. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES    "       69 

to  increase  his  acquaintance  and  to  acquire  further  knowledge. 
He  was,  therefore,  no  casual  traveler,  jotting  down  what- 
ever happened  to  strike  his  passing  fancy.  In  his  own  opinion 
there  were  three  requisites  for  the  traveler  whose  journeyings 
were  to  be  useful  to  others :  he  must  be  well  informed  regarding 
the  country  he  is  to  visit;  secondly,  —  to  quote  Brissot's  own 
words,  —  he  must  have  a  "plan  of  observation";  and,  thirdly, 
he  must  not  be  content  with  a  superficial  view,  but  must  make 
a  thorough  investigation  for  himself.^  All  three  of  these  re- 
quirements Brissot  met  fairly  well.  In  preparation  for  his 
work,  De  la  France,  he  had  used  all  the  books  on  the  subject 
on  which  he  could  lay  his  hands;  as  for  a  "plan  of  observa- 
tion," he  was  ready  with  a  definite  outline  of  points  to  be 
observed;  and  finally,  his  stay  in  America,  although  cut  short 
by  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  in  France,  was  of  suffi- 
cient length  for  him  to  make  observations  of  thoroughness. 
Between  his  arrival  in  Boston  in  July,  1788,  and  his  departure 
from  America,  at  the  end  of  the  same  year,^  he  traveled  from 
Boston  to  Virginia,^  visited  numerous  educational  and  phil- 
anthropic institutions,  saw  something  of  the  workings  of  the 
government,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  many  men  of  note. 
Among  these  were  John  Adams;  General  Heath;  General  Han- 
cock, Governor  of  Massachusetts;  James  Madison;  Hamilton; 
Warren  Mifflin;  Colonel  Duer;  Griffin,  the  President  of  Con- 
gress; Franklin;  Temple  Franklin,  his  grandson;  Miers  Fisher; 
Crevecoeur;  De  Moustier,  the  French  ambassador;  and  Gen- 
eral Washington.* 

■    ^  Novveau  Voyage,  preface,  xxxvi.  ^  See  p.  85  and  note. 

3  From  the  dates  of  his  letters  and  other  evidence,  the  following  itinerary 
may  be  given:  July  24  at  Boston;  from  thence  by  way  of  Cambridge,  Spencer, 
Brookfield,  Springfield,  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  Middletown,  New  Haven, 
Fairfield,  Rye,  New  Rochelle,  to  New  York,  August  9.  From  New  York,  Aug- 
ust 25,  by  way  of  Newark,  Trenton,  Bristol,  to  Philadelphia.  By  October  2  he 
was  back  in  Boston.  From  there  he  visited  Salem,  Beverly,  Newburj'port, 
Portsmouth,  and  Andover.  October  12,  he  left  Boston  for  Pro\'idence,  whence 
he  went  by  boat  to  New  York,  and  thence  to  Philadelphia,  Chester,  Wilming- 
ton, and  Mount  Vernon. 

*  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  147-52,  242-48,  268,  281,  312;  ii,  250. 


70  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Despite  his  advantages  of  language,  information,  wide  in- 
terest, an  extended  acquaintance,^  and  the  means  of  increasing 
it,  Brissot  nevertlieless  lacked  one  essential  requisite  for  reach- 
ing sound  conclusions  concerning  what  he  heard  and  saw.  He 
was  already  prejudiced  in  favor  of  American  institutions.  To 
him  America  was  the  seat  of  liberty  and  the  home  of  freedom, 
and  it  was  extremely  difficult  for  him  to  see  anything  but  good 
in  her  customs  and  institutions.  Moreover,  having  set  forth 
in  print  views  favorable  to  America,  he  was  naturally  anxious 
to  substantiate  his  preconceived  idea.  To  such  an  extent  was 
this  the  case  that,  when  certain  foreign  consuls  who  had  lived 
in  America  for  some  time  attempted  to  point  out  to  him 
weaknesses  and  dangers  in  American  life,  he  refused  to  credit 
their  statements  or  to  listen  to  their  opinions. ^  It  is  to  be 
remembered,  too,  that  interest  in  furthering  emigration  to 
America  led  him  to  look  on  the  situation  with  a  favorable  eye.^ 

But  although  Brissot  observed  to  prove  a  thesis  and  wrote 
to  set  an  example,  he  was  never  insincere,  and  always  endeav- 
ored to  set  down  conditions  as  he  saw  them.  He  usually  saw 
them,  however,  in  a  rosy  light.  From  the  American  point  of 
view,  this  bias  of  Brissot's  is  not  without  compensation.  The 
time  of  his  journey  was  just  at  the  end  of  the  government 
under  the  Articles  of  Confederation;  the  new  constitution  had 
been  drawn  up  and  its  fate  was  now  hanging  in  the  balance. 
The  period  was,  in  truth,  a  critical  one  in  the  history  of  the 

*  With  but  two  exceptions  Brissot  seems  to  have  been  received  everywhere 
with  the  utmost  cordiality.  These  two  exceptions  were  the  French  ambassador, 
M.  De  Moustier,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  Crevecoeur.  See  Saint-John  de 
CrevecoeuT,  by  R.  de  Crevecoeur,  162,  note.  As  to  the  latter,  we  have  only  the 
details  given  by  Brissot  himself.  Brissot  says  in  his  Memoires  (ii,  50)  that 
Crevecoeur  barely  received  him,  kept  him  only  one  night,  and  gave  him  no 
introductions.  This  seems  strange  in  view  of  their  recent  friendly  relations 
in  the  Societe  Gallo-Americaine.  Brissot  says  it  was  because  Crevecoeur  was 
dependent  on  the  ambassador  De  Moustier.  But  the  Voyage  contains  at  least 
twenty  times  the  praise  of  Crevecoeur,  who  must  have  aided  him.  Perhaps  the 
account  in  the  memoirs  is  colored  by  later  events. 

2  Nouvcan  Voyage,  preface,  xxxix. 

3  See  p.  88,  note,  for  a  criticism  of  his  account  of  the  Scioto  Company  as 
being  too  favorable  for  one  interested  in  it. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  71 

United  States,  but  the  judgment  of  a  man  who  saw  in  these 
conditions,  not  a  comparison  with  earlier  prosperity  and  later 
stable  government,  but  a  contrast  with  far  worse  conditions  in 
France,  served  to  show  wherein  those  years,  even  at  the  worst, 
held  hope  for  the  future. 

In  the  spring  of  1788  Brissot  set  out  for  this  new  country, 
sailing  from  Havre  on  the  Cato.^  It  was  characteristic  of  his 
insatiable  thirst  for  information,  and  of  his  desire  to  spread  it 
abroad,  that  just  before  starting  he  should  write  an  account 
of  the  country  through  which  he  had  passed  on  his  way,  and 
of  the  city  of  Havre.  Finally,  on  June  3,  he  sailed  away  on  his 
voyage  of  discovery,  pessimistic  for  the  land  which  he  was 
leaving,  but  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  future  of  America,  and 
for  his  possible  part  in  it.  His  experience  on  the  sea  was  the 
common  one  of  having  moments  of  regret  that  he  had  ever 
left  dry  land,  but  he  soon  recovered  his  usual  health  and  spirits, 
and  also  his  characteristic  interest  in  every  new  detail  of  his 
surroundings :  the  kind  of  food  served,  where  it  was  obtained, 
the  life  of  the  sailors,  and  the  fishing  vessels  they  met.  Much 
of  his  time  was  naturally  devoted  to  reading  and  studying 
English.  One  outcome  was  a  theory  —  a  not  unusual  result 
with  Brissot  —  that  in  order  to  bring  different  peoples  nearer 
together,  an  effort  ought  to  be  made  to  produce  a  greater  sim- 
ilarity in  their  languages,  by  incorporating  the  terms  and 
phraseology  of  one  in  the  other. ^ 

Finally,  after  a  voyage  of  fifty-one  days,  Brissot  arrived  at 
Boston,  the  24th  of  July.  It  was  to  him  a  moment  of  supreme 
happiness.  He  was  fleeing  from  despotism,  and  was  about  to 
enjoy  the  life  of  a  people  who  were  in  the  actual  possession  of 
that  liberty  and  equality  which  everywhere  else  was  regarded 
as  a  chimera.  He  was  especially  delighted  to  find  himself  in 
Boston,  the  first  city  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the  English.  He 
was  charmed,  he  declared,  to  see  how  different  it  was  from  the 

^  Craigie  to  D.  Parker,  July  27,  1788.    Craigie  Papers,  American  Anti- 
quarian Society. 
*  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  91-108.J 


72  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE; 

disagreeable,  noisy  whirlpool  of  Paris.  He  was  especially  im- 
pressed with  the  absence  of  that  restless,  busy  seeking  for 
pleasure  which  characterized  his  fellow  countrymen;  and  "of 
that  proud  and  haughty  air  of  the  Englishman."  "Here  was 
simplicity,  goodness,  and  that  dignity  of  man  which  is  the  pos- 
session of  those  who  realize  their  liberty  and  who  see  in  their 
fellow  men  only  brothers  and  equals."  ^ 

He  did  not,  however,  allow  the  delightful  novelty  of  his  new 
surroundings  to  distract  him  from  the  business  of  the  important 
commissions  with  which  he  was  entrusted,  and  without  delay 
he  made  connections  with  Andrew  Craigie  and  other  specula- 
tors to  whom  he  had  been  especially  commended. ^  They  were 
only  too  ready  to  follow  Parker's  suggestion  in  his  note  of  in- 
troduction,* and  pay  Brissot  every  attention,  as  it  was  with  his 
assistance  that  they  hoped  to  carry  through  a  scheme  of  "  great 
magnitude."^  This  scheme,  the  two  parts  of  which  were 
closely  connected,  consisted  in  a  speculation  in  the  American 
debt  and  in  western  lands,  and  the  assistance  of  European 
agents  was  indispensable.  They  accordingly  made  much  of 
Brissot.  Indeed,  their  fear  that  he  might  be  made  use  of  by 
some  one  else,  hastened  the  development  of  their  plans,^  while 
Brissot  on  his  side  was  anxious  to  further  profitable  invest- 
ments for  his  friends  at  home.  The  result  of  their  common 
interests  and  ambitious  undertakings  was  a  contract,  dated 
October,  1788,  which  reads  in  part  as  follows  :  — 

Articles  of  Agreement  entered  into  and  fully  agreed  upon  betwixt 
J.  Peter  Brissot  de  Warville  for  himself  and  Stephen  Claviere  of  the 
Kingdom  of  France,  and  William  Duer,^  and  Andrew  Craigie  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  viz. : 

The  parties  mutually  agree  and  covenant  with  each  other  to  use 

*  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  110-11. 

2  Craigie  to  D.  Parker,  July  27,  1788.  Craigie  Papers,  American  Antiqua- 
rian Society. 

»  See  above,  p.  66.  *  Duer  to  D.  Parker,  November  5,  1788,   Ibid. 

B  Craigie  to  D.  Parker,  December  3,  1788.   Ibid.  See  Appendix  A. 

6  'William  Duer  was  born  in  England,  in  1747.  After  serving  with  Clive  in 
India,  he  gave  up  army  life.  Coming  to  New  York  on  business,  he  settled  there, 
and  took  the  part  of  the  colonists  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  was  known  as 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  73 

their  best  exertions  to  form  an  association  whose  object  of  negotia- 
tion [sic]  shall  be  as  follows: 

To  obtain  from  the  Court  of  France  a  transfer  of  the  debt  due  to 
that  crown  from  the  United  States; 

To  get  such  transfer  ratified  by  the  United  States;  and  to  obtain 
such  a  convention  for  the  payment  of  the  principal  and  interest  due 
thereon,  as  shall  be  judged  most  advisable  by  the  parties  interested  in 
the  transfer; 

To  purchase  from  time  to  time  as  large  a  proportion  of  the  do- 
mestic debt  of  the  United  States  as  they  shall  be  able  to  procure,  and 
on  such  terms  as  shall  be  agreed  upon  by  the  Company,  or  the  parties 
interested  in  their  behalf,  to  manage  such  speculation; 

To  obtain  such  loans  of  money  as  may  hereafter  be  judged  neces- 
sary by  Congress,  to  enable  them  to  pay  the  interest  of  their  debt, 
foreign  and  domestic,  and  to  discharge  the  other  exigencies  of  the 
Union. ^ 

It  was  further  agreed  that  Mr.  Daniel  Parker  should  be 
authorized  to  accede  to  the  agreement  on  the  same  terms  as  the 
subscribing  parties.  With  the  other  plans  of  Craigie  and  Duer 
—  the  Scioto  land  speculation  ^  —  Brissot  was  not  so  immedi- 
ately connected,  and  the  carrying  out  of  his  part  of  the  specu- 
lation in  the  debt  he  had  to  defer  till  his  return  to  France. 

Meantime,  his  personal  interest  in  the  development  of  the 
United  States  could  not  but  be  increased.  One  of  the  first 
things  that  struck  him  was  the  spirit  of  tolerance  which  pre- 
vailed. Judging  from  the  Lettres  d'un  cultivateur  americain, 
he  had  expected  a  "ferocious  Presbyterianism,"  and  was  sur- 
prised to  find,  instead,  a  wide  tolerance  in  practice,  and  little 
reference  to  dogma  in  the  pulpit. 

In  their  manner  of  life,  especially  in  their  picnics  and  their 
tea-drinkings,  the  Americans  seemed  to  him  to  resemble  the 
English.^  Another  thing  which  struck  him  was  a  growing  spirit 
of  commercial  rivalry  with  England.   It  was  this  spirit  which 

a  bold  speculator  and  successful  financier.  After  the  resignation  of  Robert 
Morris  as  superintendent  of  finance,  he  became  secretary  of  the  treasury  board. 
(See  Belote,  The  Scioto  Speculation,  14,  note.) 

1  Correspondance,  208,  212.  See  also  the  Craigie  Papers,  American  Anti- 
quarian Society. 

*  See  p.  85.  *  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  112-16;  123-29. 


74  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

was  leading  to  so  rapid  a  development  of  manufactures  of  all 
kinds.  But  he  also  remarked,  as  a  natural  corollary,  in  a  coun- 
try devoted  chiefly  to  commerce,  that  the  sciences  had  not 
reached  a  very  high  degree  of  development.  Exception  to  the 
absence  of  intellectual  life  he  found,  however,  at  Cambridge, 
and  with  all  that  he  saw  there  he  was  delighted  —  the  quiet 
peace  of  the  place,  its  proximity  to  Boston,  the  type  of  presi- 
dent and  professors  of  Harvard,  its  library  and  equipment.  ^ 

With  the  men  whom  he  met  he  was  also  much  pleased,  and 
especially  with  the  simplicity  in  which  they  lived.  To  see  men 
who  had  played  a  distinguished  part  in  the  American  Revolu- 
tion pursuing  the  occupation  of  farmers,  seems  to  have  caused 
him  a  momentary  surprise,  but  he  was  none  the  less  delighted 
that  so  simple  a  life  was  adopted  by  the  nation's  leaders.  He 
was  especially  impressed  with  John  Adams,  as  an  example  of 
a  statesman  who  had  returned  to  his  plow  from  the  court  of 
kings.  "I  have  seen  Adams,"  he  wrote,  "occupied  in  the  culti- 
vation of  his  farm,  forgetting  the  role  which  he  played  when  he 
trampled  under  foot  the  pride  of  his  king,  that  king  who  had 
set  a  price  upon  his  head,  and  who  was  forced  to  receive  him 
as  ambassador  from  a  free  country.  Such,  surely,"  he  added, 
rising  to  a  comparison  with  classic  times,  "were  the  generals 
and  ambassadors  of  the  glorious  epochs  of  Rome  and  Greece; 
such  were  Epaminondas,  Fabius  and  Cincinnatus."  Holding 
such  an  exalted  opinion  of  Adams,  he  was  distressed  to  find 
that  he  did  not  have  great  faith  in  the  possibility  of  much 
liberty  in  France.  "He  does  not  even  believe,"  Brissot  adds 
sorrowfully,  "that  we  have  the  right,  according  to  our  old 
States-General,  of  asking  that  no  tax  be  laid  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  people."  ^ 

But  whatever  view  Adams  might  hold  of  the  possibilities 
of  a  republican  form  of  government  for  other  nations,  Brissot 
was  ready  to  admit  that  Adams  himself  was  a  fine  example  of 
republican  virtues.  Nor  was  he  the  only  notable  example  of 
such  virtues.  Brissot  was  also  much  impressed  by  General 
1  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  130-36.  »  Ibid.,  i,  146-47. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  75 

Heath,  Samuel  Adams,  and  Hancock,  the  Governor  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. "  General  Heath  was  one  of  those  worthy  imita- 
tors of  the  Roman  Cincinnatus;  for  he  does  not  like  the  Ameri- 
can Cincinnati;  their  eagle  seemed  to  him  a  gew-gaw,  suitable 
only  for  children.  .  .  .  With  what  joy  did  this  respected  man 
show  me  all  parts  of  his  farm !  What  happiness  he  enjoyed  there ! 
He  was  a  true  farmer.  ...  A  glass  of  cider,  which  he  presented 
to  me  in  the  spirit  of  good  comradeship,  seemed  to  me  superior 
to  the  most  exquisite  wines."  ^  Of  Samuel  Adams  he  said: 
"He  has  the  republican  virtues  to  an  unusual  degree,  im- 
peccable uprightness,  simplicity,  modesty,  and  above  all, 
severity;  he  is  unwilling  to  have  any  capitulation  with  abuses. 
He  fears  the  despotism  of  virtue  and  ability  as  much  as  the 
despotism  of  vice.  In  spite  of  his  love  and  respect  for  Wash- 
ington, he  voted  to  deprive  him  of  his  command  at  the  end  of  a 
certain  time."-  In  General  Hancock,  Brissot  found  another 
example  of  courage,  patriotism,  and  democracy.  This  sim- 
plicity Brissot  perceived  was  common  to  the  people  at  large. 
It  seemed  to  him  the  very  basis  of  their  high  standard  of 
morality,  and  he  was  never  weary  of  calling  attention  to  its 
various  manifestations.  The  secret  of  this  general  high  standard 
of  morality,  he,  in  common  with  Rousseau,  attributed  to  a 
rural  life,^  and  as  substantiating  his  belief,  he  adduced  the  fact 
that  nine  tenths  of  the  Americans  lived  in  the  country.^ 

After  a  stay  of  some  two  weeks  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  Bris- 
sot set  out  for  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  The  journey  from 
Boston  to  New  York  was  accomplished  in  four  days,  but  at  the 
expense  of  a  four  o'clock  start  each  morning.^  The  inconven- 
iences of  travel  appeared  to  Brissot  slight,  however,  in  com- 
parison with  those  of  France.  If  the  roads  left  much  to  be  de- 
sired, the  stage  coaches  seemed  to  him  infinitely  superior  to 

1  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  150.  ^  Ibid.,  i,  152. 

2  Ibid.,  Preface,  xii.  But  see  p.  83,  where  he  attributes  this  high  standard 
of  morality  to  liberty. 

*  He  excepted,  however,  the  plantation  life  of  the  South,  on  account  of  the 
inequalities  inseparably  connected  with  slavery. 
6  Ibid.,  I,  157. 


76  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  lumbering  diligences  of  his  own  country.  Moreover,  the 
absence  of  any  class  distinctions  between  travelers  delighted 
him  beyond  measure.  "These  carriages,"  he  explains,  "keep 
up  the  idea  of  equality.  The  member  of  Congress  is  placed  by 
the  side  of  the  shoemaker  who  elected  him;  they  fraternize  and 
chat  together.  You  see  no  person  here  taking  upon  himself 
those  important  airs  which  you  too  often  meet  with  in  France. 
In  that  country,  for  instance,  a  gentleman  would  blush  to 
travel  in  a  diligence;  it  is  a  common  carriage;  you  never  know 
with  whom  you  may  be  thrown.  .  .  .  The  artisan  or  the  laborer 
who  finds  himself  in  any  one  of  these  stages  with  a  gentleman, 
keeps  still  and  attends  to  his  own  business,  or,  if  he  does  take 
part  in  the  conversation,  he  does  his  best  to  rise  to  the  level 
of  others."  ^  At  the  inns,  too,  Brissot  was  pleased  with  the 
spirit  of  good-comradeship  which  existed  between  the  tavern 
keepers  and  their  guests,  and  by  the  absence  of  the  spirit  of 
servility,  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  the  servants  did  not 
expect  fees. 

The  contrast  between  American  women  and  French  women 
also  greatly  impressed  him.  On  this  subject  Brissot,  like  every 
Frenchman,  before  or  after  him,  who  has  come  to  America, 
had  much  to  say.  Like  every  Frenchman,  too,  he  was  struck 
with  the  freedom  with  which  American  women  went  about 
unattended.  He  often  met  them  driving  or  riding  alone  on  the 
country  roads,  and  was  constantly  surprised  that  their  doing 
so  was  taken  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  provoked  no  comment 
or  criticism.  It  argued  well,  he  thought,  both  for  the  safety  of 
the  roads  and  the  morals  of  the  community.  Wherever  he  went 
he  was  impressed  with  their  freedom  and  lack  of  affectation 
—  a  forcible  contrast  to  the  manners  of  women  in  France. ^ 

He  noted  with  pain,  however,  beginnings  of  what  he  con- 
sidered old-world  luxury  and  formality.  This  was  particularly 
true  of  New  York,  where  the  dress  of  the  women,  the  elegant 
equipages  and  the  luxurious  tables  betokened  a  growing  taste 
for  display.'    The  introduction  of  carpets,  which,  he  com- 

i  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  234-56.     ^  md.,  i,  183;  see  also  113, 255.     ^  Ibid.,  i,  231. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  77 

plained,  was  due  to  English  influence/  was  one  of  the  luxuries 
which  he  deplored.  The  increasing  study  of  music  also  gave 
him  concern,  and  he  uttered  a  pious  wish  that  the  women  of 
Boston  might  never  be  taken  with  the  malady  of  desiring  per- 
fection in  the  musical  art.^  The  prevalent  use  of  the  cigar  dis- 
gusted him,  though  he  thought  that  it  had  the  advantage  of 
assisting  reflection  by  interfering  with  the  smoker's  immediate 
response  to  queries  or  arguments. 

After  the  luxury  of  New  York,  it  was  a  great  relief  to  Brissot 
to  visit  the  Quakers  in  Pennsylvania,  among  whom  simplicity 
still  reigned.  He  had  solemnly  espoused  their  cause,  against 
the  aspersions  of  Chastellux,  and  through  their  common  inter- 
est in  the  slave  trade,  had  made  connections  with  some  of  their 
members.  He  naturally  met  a  very  cordial  reception,  and  had 
the  opportunity  of  seeing,  at  first  hand,  their  mode  of  life,  and 
of  visiting  various  charitable  institutions  under  their  control. 
All  that  he  saw  only  served  to  corroborate  his  former  opinions, 
and  in  describing  their  virtues,  he  never  missed  the  chance  to 
give  a  fling  at  Chastellux,  and  to  hold  up  his  attitude  to  ridi- 
cule. Discussing  two  of  their  chief  peculiarities,  their  refusal 
to  take  an  oath  and  to  bear  arms,  he  declared  that  their  ob- 
jection to  an  oath  was  no  indication  of  a  wish  to  escape  re- 
sponsibility for  their  actions.  He  could  wish,  however,  that 
since  the  war  of  the  colonies  against  Great  Britain  was  justi- 
fied by  that  divine  principle  which  authorizes  resistance  to 
oppression,  they  had  seen  fit  to  take  part  in  it.  But  as  they 
were  consistent  in  their  action,  and  as  their  neutrality  did  not 
mean  a  secret  attachment  to  the  British,  he  held  that  it  was 
unjust  to  persecute  them.  It  was  their  simplicity  which  most 
attracted  him.  He  took  pleasure  in  contrasting  their  worship 
with  that  to  which  he  was  accustomed;  their  life  with  that 
of  the  French.  "What  a  difference,"  he  writes,  "between  the 
simplicity  of  this  and   the  pomp  of  the  Catholic  worship. 

1  For  his  aspersions  on  the  English  Brissot  was  sharply  criticized  in  a 
review  of  the  travels,  in  the  Monthly  Review  for  1791,  p.  531. 

2  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  112;  ii,  80. 


78  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Reformation  in  all  its  stages  has  diminished  its  formalities. 
It  is  thus  that  human  reason  progresses  towards  perfection."  ^ 
And  again:  "Simplicity,  candour  and  good  faith  characterize 
the  actions,  as  well  as  the  discourses  of  the  Quakers.  They  are 
not  affected,  but  they  are  sincere;  they  are  not  polished  but 
they  are  humane;  they  have  not  that  wit  —  that  sparkling  wit 
—  without  which  a  man  is  nothing  in  France,  and  with  which 
he  is  everything;  but  they  have  good  sense,  sound  judgment, 
upright  hearts  and  honest  souls."  ^ 

While  at  Philadelphia  he  also  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting 
Franklin,  for  whom  he  had  long  cherished  a  profound  admira- 
tion, and  who  seemed  to  him  the  very  embodiment  of  all  the 
virtues.  "I  have  found  in  America,"  he  wrote,  "many  en- 
lightened politicians,  many  virtuous  men;  but  I  have  seen  no 
one  who  appeared  to  me  to  possess  in  so  high  a  degree  as  Frank- 
lin the  characteristics  of  a  true  philosopher."  ^ 

One  reason  for  Brissot's  keen  interest  in  the  Quakers  was,  as 
has  been  pointed  out,  their  common  enthusiasm  in  work  for 
the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  and  of  slavery.  The  societies 
formed  by  them  seemed  to  him  the  most  adequate  agencies 
possible.  Through  his  connection  with  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  in 
Paris,  he  was  brought  into  relation  with  like  societies  in  America, 
was  everywhere  received  by  them  with  cordiality,  was  shown 
every  courtesy,  and  was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  several 
branches.  The  work  which  he  saw  accomplished  in  the  growing 
sentiment  against  the  slave  trade,  and  in  the  North  against 
slavery  itself,  encouraged  him  to  hope  for  a  like  success  on  the 
part  of  his  own  society.  In  his  enthusiasm  he  seems  to  have 
gone  too  far  and  to  have  displeased  even  the  Quakers  them- 
selves by  the  extravagance  of  his  praise,  while  the  Penn- 
sylvania Dutch,  the  Methodists,  and  others  complained  that 


^  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  290. 

'  Ibid.,  II,  169.  He  followed  the  Quaker  example  of  simplicity  by  leaving 
his  hair  unpowdered  at  a  time  when  powder  was  the  almost  universal  fashion. 
Quoted  from  Beaulieu,  by  Aulard,  Orateurs  de  la  legislative,  i,  219. 

'  Nouveau  Voyage,  ii,  312. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  79 

they  too  had  worked  against  slavery,  and  that  to  ascribe  all 
efforts  in  behaK  of  the  negro  to  the  Quakers  alone  was  most 
unjust.^ 

In  addition  to  organized  societies,  Brissot  had  two  other 
means  to  suggest  which  would  tend  towards  the  abolition  of 
slavery:  the  substitution  of  maple  sugar  for  the  sugar  cane, 
and  the  emigration  of  negroes  to  Africa.  The  first,  he  claimed, 
would  do  away  with  the  necessity  of  slave  labor,  and  would,  in 
itself,  be  a  profitable  enterprise;  the  second  would  add  greatly 
to  the  happiness  of  the  negro.  It  would,  in  turn,  be  directly 
advantageous  to  commerce,  for  the  African  negroes  would  be 
civilized  by  contact  with  the  colonists  from  America,  and  the 
civilization  thus  established  would  create  new  markets  for 
Europe. 

He  was  most  optimistic  in  regard  to  the  capacity  of  the 
negro  for  civilization.  The  statement  of  Chastellux  that  "it 
is  not  only  the  slave  who  is  beneath  the  master;  it  is  the  negro 
who  is  beneath  the  white  man,"  he  denied  m  toto,  and  as- 
serted on  the  contrary  that  the  reason  why  the  negro  had  not 
risen  was  not  because  he  lacked  ability,  but  because  the  white 
man  kept  him  down.  In  order  to  substantiate  this  opinion, 
Brissot  made  throughout  his  trip  a  special  study  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  negro.  He  visited  numerous  schools  for  colored 
children,  and  was  always  delighted  whenever  he  was  able  to 
cite  marked  instances  of  ability.  As  a  further  confirmation 
of  his  belief  that  the  difficulty  with  the  negro  was  not  hered- 
ity, but  environment,  he  noted  the  contrast  between  the  free 
negroes  of  the  North  and  the  slaves  of  the  South. ^  His  feeling 
on  this  subject  was  so  strong  that  it  prevented  a  full  enjoy- 
ment of  that  part  of  his  journey  which  lay  south  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  line.  Even  his  admiration  for  Washington  was  clouded 
by  the  realization  that  he  was  a  slave-owner.  Brissot,  indeed, 
in  the  course  of  a  visit  to  Mount  Vernon,  tried  to  convert 

1  See  letter  of  November  28,  1791,  to  Brissot,  apparently  from  Francis 
Dupont.  Scioto  Papers,  New  York  Historical  Society. 
*  Nouveau  Voyage,  ii,  34. 


80  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Washington  to  his  own  views. ^  Washington,  however,  while 
protesting  his  sympathy  for  the  movement  as  a  whole,  main- 
tained that  the  time  was  not  yet  ripe  in  Virginia  for  radical 
action  against  slavery,  to  which  Brissot  retorted  that  he  was 
mistaken,  and  that  it  would  be  a  task  worthy  of  Washington 
to  begin  the  revolution  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  emancipa- 
tion. He  failed,  however,  to  convince  him  that  the  moment 
was  favorable  for  the  formation  of  an  anti-slavery  society. 2 

In  all  other  respects  Brissot  greatly  admired  Washington. 
His  was  another  example  of  the  ideal  private  life  of  a  great 
man.  "You  have  heard  him  compared  to  Cincinnatus,"  Bris- 
sot wrote,  "the  comparison  is  well  made.  This  celebrated  gen- 
eral is  nothing  more  at  present  than  a  good  farmer,  constantly 
occupied  in  the  care  of  his  farm,  as  he  calls  it,  in  improving  the 
methods  of  farming,  in  building  barns.  .  .  .  Everything  has  an 
air  of  simplicity  in  his  home;  his  table  is  good,  but  there  is 
no  display,  and  everything  in  the  domestic  arrangements  is 
well  regulated.  Mrs.  Washington  superintends  the  whole,  and 
combines  the  qualities  of  an  excellent  farmer's  wife  with  that 
simple  dignity  which  ought  to  characterize  a  woman  whose 
husband  has  acted  the  greatest  part  in  the  theater  of  human 
affairs."  ^ 

In  the  general  economic  problems  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  in  the  special  problem  of  the  negro,  Brissot  was  deeply 
interested.  The  treatment  of  the  Indian  involved  certain  dif- 
ficulties, he  admitted,  but  some  of  the  trouble  had  been  brought 
on,  it  seemed  to  him,  by  the  whites,  by  their  own  conduct,  and 
might  have  been  avoided  if  all  the  whites  in  their  dealings  with 
the  Indians  had  followed  the  example  of  the  Quakers.  The 
Indians  might  be  led  to  accept  European  civilization,  though 
it  was,  perhaps,  not  altogether  desirable  that  they  should;  but 
at  least  with  skill  and  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the  whites, 
more  peaceable  relations  might  be  estabhshed.'* 

Not  only  a  general  state  of  peace  was  to  be  looked  for,  but 

1  Brissot  was  indebted  to  Lafayette  for  a  letter  of  introduction.  See  p.  68. 
«  Nouveau  Voyage,  11,  44.  »  Ibid.,  11,  265-67.  *  Ibid.,  11,  427-31. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  81 

commercial  prosperity.  Commerce  with  the  East  Indies  was 
being  developed  and  both  imports  and  exports  were  increasing.  ^ 
This  seemed  to  Brissot  a  hopeful  sign,  particularly  in  its  bear- 
ing on  the  ability  of  the  Americans  to  pay  their  debts.  He  was 
in  fact  much  more  ready  to  listen  to  the  optimistic  opinions  of 
Adams  as  to  the  future  of  America  than  to  the  doubts  of  the 
French  ambassador.  It  was,  moreover,  a  favorable  time  for 
making  a  study  of  economic  conditions.  Western  expansion 
was  just  beginning,  and  manufactures  were  springing  up.  Some- 
thing of  the  future  development  of  the  frontier,  as  well  as  of  the 
geographical  lines  along  which  it  was  to  advance,  Brissot  seems 
to  have  perceived.  He  speaks,  for  example,  of  the  commercial 
advantages  which  New  York  State  would  acquire  through  the 
connection  of  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  Rivers  with  the  Great 
Lakes  by  a  series  of  canals;  ^  and  of  the  possibilities  of  ex- 
pansion beyond  the  Mississippi.  Unlike  many  Americans  of 
the  time,  he  saw  no  reason  to  fear  that  the  Western  states  would 
separate  from  the  Union.  He  predicted,  on  the  contrary,  that 
in  case  Spain  were  so  foolish  as  to  insist  on  closing  the  Mis- 
sissippi, these  states,  instead  of  transferring  their  allegiance  to 
Spain,  would  rise  in  their  might  and  drive  her  out  of  her  west- 
ern possessions.^ 

This  question  of  western  expansion  was  not  merely  a  matter 
of  public  interest  to  Brissot,  it  was  also  of  vital  personal  con- 
cern, because  of  its  bearing  on  a  possible  place  of  settlement  for 
himself,  his  family,  and  his  friends.  The  future  of  America  was, 
after  all,  less  important  to  him  than  the  present  and  practical 
problems  of  a  prospective  settler.  "What  was  the  price  of 
land?"  "What  were  the  wages  of  a  farm  laborer.^"  "Was  it 
easy  to  get  labor.?"  "How  much  land  would  it  take  to  sup- 
port a  man,  his  wife,  and  two  or  three  children.?"  These  were 
some  of  the  points  on  which  Brissot  was  seeking  information.'' 

Brissot's  wife,  meanwhile,  was  likewise  preparing  for  life  in 
America.  He  must  not  forget,  she  wrote  to  him,  to  let  her  know 

1  Noureau  Voyage,  n,  364.  383,  397.      ^  75^^.^  j^  224.      ^  75,-^^  jj^  432-35. 
*  See  M.  Vellay's  collection  of  notes  referred  to  above,  p.  67  and  note. 


82  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

what  they  would  need  for  the  journey,  particularly  for  the 
ocean  voyage.  What  would  life  be  like;  how  much  comfort 
would  they  be  likely  to  have;  what  must  they  bring  with 
them?  1 

Although  as  a  place  for  his  own  settlement  the  Mohawk  Val- 
ley and  Pennsylvania  seem  to  have  been  the  regions  he  most 
seriously  considered,  lands  further  west  also  claimed  his  atten- 
tion. He  was  keenly  alive  to  the  difficulties  of  individual  set- 
tlement, and  welcomed,  as  a  means  of  overcoming  them,  the 
formation  of  land  companies.^ 

He  foresaw  with  clearness  something  of  the  future  of  western 
expansion,  but  it  would  have  taken  a  wiser  man  than  he  to 
foresee  the  material  inventions  which  were  to  develop  that 
western  territory,  by  making  its  water-ways  so  tremendously 
important.  The  primitive  steamboat  which  he  saw  being  ex- 
perimented with  on  the  Delaware,  seemed  to  him  merely  an 
interesting  novelty;  it  was  too  expensive,  too  cumbersome, 
and  required  too  many  men  to  operate  it,  to  be  very  useful.^ 

But  if  Brissot  failed  to  perceive  the  means  by  which  the 
country  was  to  be  developed,  of  its  capacity  for  development 
he  had  not  the  slightest  doubt.  The  taxes  appeared  to  him  to 
be  low,  at  least  in  comparison  with  those  of  France.  Large 
families  were  common;  prices,  if  judged  by  the  ordinary  cost 
of  living,  and  not  by  the  tavern  charges,  were  moderate;  and, 
what  seemed  most  remarkable  of  all,  there  were  few  signs  of 
extreme  poverty,  except  in  the  large  cities.  The  striking  ex- 
ceptions to  this  prosperity  were  in  Rhode  Island  and  New 
Jersey,  where,  as  a  result  of  a  craze  for  paper  money,  economic 
distress  prevailed. 

The  existence  of  paper  money  was  one  of  the  few  things 
which  Brissot  criticized  in  the  United  States.    He  was  thor- 

^  Correspondance,  205. 

^  See  the  questions  which  he  asked  as  to  the  relative  merits  of  those  two 
localities.  Correspondance,  185-86.  See  also  his  notes  in  the  collection  of  M. 
Vellay  on  the  Illinois  Company  and  the  settlements  made  under  its  aus- 
pices. 

'  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  340. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  83 

oughly  convinced  of  the  evils  of  this  irredeemable  paper  cur- 
rency, and  considered  it  a  signal  merit  of  the  new  constitution 
that,  by  taking  away  from  the  states  the  power  of  issuing  paper 
money,  it  relieved  existing  evils  and  gave  promise  of  safety  for 
the  future.  Conditions  in  Rhode  Island,  on  account  of  the  paper 
money,  appeared  to  him  especially  bad.  He  also  criticized  the 
constitution  of  that  state,  because  it  permitted  too  frequent 
elections  of  the  legislative  body,  and  made  the  judicial  body 
too  much  subject  to  the  control  of  the  people.^ 

But  with  these  few  exceptions  Brissot  had  nothing  but  warm- 
est praise  for  America.  And  that  American  life  was  so  simple 
and  wholesome,  and  the  standard  of  morality  so  high,  was  due, 
he  declared  again  and  again,  to  the  liberty  which  formed  the 
basis  of  the  government.^  In  his  enthusiasm  he  was  guilty  of  a 
good  deal  of  triviality.  Liberty,  in  his  opinion,  accounted  for 
everything,  from  the  good  temper  of  the  stage-driver  to  the 
large  size  of  the  windows  in  the  hospitals,  —  both  of  which, 
he  declared,  would  be  exceptional  in  a  land  of  despotism.  To 
liberty  and  equality  was  due  the  longevity  of  the  people.  To 
the  absence  of  entire  liberty  and  equality  in  the  case  of  women, 
was  due  the  greater  prevalence  of  consumption  among  their 
sex.  "They  are  more  susceptible  to  consumption,"  he  ex- 
plained, "on  account  of  the  absence  of  a  civil  existence.  The 
submission  to  which  women  are  habituated,  to  which  they  are 
condemned,  has  the  effect  of  chains,  which  compress  and  gnaw 
the  flesh,  cause  obstructions,  deaden  the  vital  principle,  and 
impede  the  circulation."  ^ 

The  constitution,  which  was  to  Brissot  the  tangible  embodi- 
ment of  liberty  and  equality,  was  the  all-absorbing  topic  of 
discussion  at  the  time  of  his  visit.  At  the  date  of  his  departure 
from  Havre,  June  3,  1788,  its  fate  hung  in  the  balance.  When 

^  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  200-12. 

2  He  had  previously  attributed  all  that  was  good  in  American  institutions  to 
life  in  the  country.  See  p.  75.  The  Monthly  Revietc,  for  1791  (p.  531),  in 
speaking  of  the  Voyage,  reminded  Brissot  that  the  excellent  conditions  which 
he  ascribed  to  liberty,  were  in  existence  under  the  British  government. 

'  Nouveau  Voyage,  u,  133. 


84  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

he  wrote  his  first  letter  from  America,  July  30,  the  acceptance 
of  the  constitution  by  New  Hampshire,  Virginia,  and  New 
York,  had  made  the  new  government  a  certainty.  In  this  polit- 
ical agitation  Brissot  took  an  absorbing  interest,  and  through 
his  letters  of  introduction  he  had  the  opportunity  of  meeting 
some  of  the  men  who  had  most  to  do  with  the  formation  and 
adoption  of  the  new  constitution.  He  visited  Franklin,  whom 
he  had  long  admired  for  his  part  in  the  American  Revolution; 
dined  with  Madison  and  Schuyler;  and  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Hamilton,  King,  and  Jay.  In  Hamilton  he  saw  the  "deter- 
mined air  of  a  republican  " ;  in  Madison,  the  "  meditative  air  of 
a  profound  politician."  He  agreed  with  Madison  that  the  re- 
fusal of  North  Carolina  to  accept  the  constitution  would  have 
little  influence  on  the  minds  of  the  Americans,  but  he  was  in- 
clined to  lay  more  weight  than  Madison  on  the  criticism  with 
which  that  refusal  would  be  received  abroad.  "People  over 
there,"  he  declared,  "will  not  take  the  trouble  to  inquire  into 
the  motives  which  dictated  the  refusal,  nor  will  they  consider 
the  small  consequence  of  this  state  in  the  confederation.  On 
the  contrary,  they  will  look  upon  it  as  a  germ  of  perhaps  lasting 
division."  ^  The  one  blot  upon  the  constitution  was,  in  Bris- 
sot's  mind,  the  recognition  which  it  gave  to  slavery.  He  was 
hopeful,  however,  that  the  slave  trade  would  soon  be  abolished, 
and  that  a  growing  sentiment  against  slavery  would  lead  to 
the  extinction  of  that  evil. 

Influenced  by  his  belief  in  the  future  prosperity  of  America, 
he  now  came  to  a  decision  on  the  question  he  had  been  con- 
sidering, and  definitely  made  up  his  mind  to  settle  in  Amer- 
ica, chose  Pennsylvania  as  the  place  of  his  abode,  and  sent  for 
his  brother-in-law,  who  was  then  living  in  Russia,  to  come  to 
join  him.2  In  the  midst  of  these  plans  his  eye  fell  upon  a  notice 

^  Nouveau  Voyage,  i,  242,  and  Correspondance,  202. 

2  Petion,  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Vatel,  ii,  237-38.  See  also  Replique  a  Stanislas 
Clermont,  9:  "Celle  qui  par  sa  grandeur  et  sa  simplicHe  meritoit  plus  mon  estime 
et  mon  attachment,  la  Pennsylvanie  [sic]  m'avoit  adopts  pour  un  de  ses  enfants." 
He  seems  to  be  speaking  here  only  in  a  figurative  sense.  There  is  no  record  that 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  bestowed  citizenship  upon  him. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  85 

in  the  American  papers,  to  the  effect  that  the  date  of  the  meet- 
ing of  the  States  General  had  been  put  forward  from  May  to  Jan- 
uary. It  seemed  that  revolution  was  to  begin,  and  without  even 
waiting  the  arrival  of  his  brother-in-law,  Brissot  hastened  back 
to  France,^  in  the  hope,  as  he  says,  of  being  useful  to  the  cause 
of  liberty.^ 

But  though  he  unexpectedly  ended  his  American  travels  and 
thus  changed  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  his  experience  in 
America  continued  to  be  an  important  factor  in  its  influence 
both  upon  his  private  life  and  upon  his  public  career.  Immedi- 
ately on  landing  he  made  connections  with  Parker,  the  agent  of 
Duer  and  Craigie,  with  the  purpose  of  furthering  speculation 
in  the  American  debt,^  but  he  soon  lost  confidence  in  him. 
The  operations  in  which  they  were  engaged  were  not  successful, 
and  instead  of  immense  gains  the  association  appears  to  have 
come  out  of  the  transaction  minus  both  glory  and  profit.* 

Besides  the  speculation  in  the  American  debt,  Brissot  was 
also  interested  in  the  speculation  in  western  land,  particularly 
in  the  operations  of  Duer  and  Craigie  in  connection  with  the 
so-called  Scioto  Company.  The  situation  was  this:  an  asso- 
ciation had  been  formed  in  America,  knowTi  as  the  Ohio  Com- 
pany, which  had  obtained  a  grant  of  land  from  Congress.  Tak- 
ing advantage  of  this  situation,  Duer  and  his  friends  organized 
a  private  association  —  the  Scioto  Company  —  to  buy  land 
from  Congress  under  the  shadow  of  the  Ohio  Company's  bar- 
gain.5    The  Scioto  Company  then  intended  to  sell  in  Holland 

1  He  sailed  December  3,  1788,  and  "after  a  long,  tedious  and  stormy  pas- 
sage of  -tl  days,"  disembarked  at  Falmouth,  England.  (Letter  of  Craigie  to 
Dupont,  February  2,  1789,  Craigie  Papers,  American  Antiquarian  Society;  and 
letter  of  Brissot  to  Duer,  dated  Falmouth,  January  15,  1789,  Scioto  Papers, 
New  York  Historical  Society.) 

2  Reponse  a  tons  les  lihellistes,  25.  '  See  pp.  66-67. 

*  See  the  Craigie  Papers,  American  Antiquarian  Society;  also  Scioto  Papers, 
New  York  Historical  Society,  especially  letters  of  Craigie  to  Brissot,  of  June 
13,  July  28,  1789.  and  October  6,  1790;  and  letters  of  Brissot  to  Duer,  of  Jan- 
uary 31,  and  April  28,  1789. 

5  "It  was  intended  by  the  Scioto  Company  to  make  an  immediate  sale  of  its 
rights  of  preemption  in  Holland  and  France.  In  both  these  countries  large 
amounts  of  United  States  securities  were  held.    These  securities  were  then 


86  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

and  France  its  right  of  preemption,  and  to  this  end  they  sent 
Joel  Barlow  to  France  to  act  as  their  agent.  He  arrived  in  June, 
1788,  just  after  Brissot  had  sailed  for  America,  and  promptly 
set  to  work  to  accomplish  his  task.  He  soon  found,  however, 
that  it  was  very  difficult  to  sell  a  mere  preemption  in  small  lots 
to  individual  purchasers.  To  create  public  confidence  a  com- 
pany was  accordingly  formed  at  Barlow's  instigation,  which 
took  over  the  sale  of  the  land,  and  which  for  the  time  being 
was  successful;  but  the  public  soon  lost  confidence  and  it  was 
thought  necessary  to  organize  a  new  company,  the  formation 
of  which  was  made  public  in  July,  1790.  The  operations  of 
these  several  companies  in  many  instances  were  not  such  as  to 
bear  the  light,  and  the  whole  thing  ended  in  failure.^ 

Just  what  was  Brissot's  relation  to  this  affair  is  not  clear. 
According  to  Todd,  in  his  life  of  Joel  Barlow,  Brissot,  before 
his  journey  to  America,  made  some  effort  to  sell  the  company's 
lands,  but  without  success.  There  is  no  reliable  evidence,  how- 
ever, to  indicate  any  such  attempt,  and  from  the  correspond- 
ence between  Brissot  and  the  American  speculators  at  the 
time  of  his  journey  to  the  United  States,  it  would  not  appear 
that  they  had  had  previous  intercourse.  Because  of  their  as- 
sociation in  connection  with  the  American  debt,  he  would 
naturally  be  connected  too  with  their  land  schemes.  He  cer- 
tainly advocated  the  formation  of  a  European  firm  for  the  sale 
of  American  land.  The  land  companies,  he  was  persuaded, 
would  make  profit  only  if  they  developed  a  European  market. 
It  was  necessary  further,  he  argued,  to  open  the  lands  for  sale 
through  a  European  house.  People  would  lack  confidence  in 
any  American  house.  ^  What  was  needed  was  a  European  con- 
almost  worthless.  It  was  natural  to  suppose  that  their  holders  would  gladly 
part  with  them  in  exchange  for  fertile  lands  in  the  west  of  the  United  States. 
The  securities  thus  acquired  could  be  used  by  the  Scioto  Associates  to  pay 
Congress  for  their  lands.  Since  Congress  would  accept  the  securities  at  par 
while  the  Scioto  Associates  had  received  them  at  a  greatly  depreciated  value, 
the  latter  would  soon  be  able  to  pay  for  their  lands  and  the  sums  derived 
thereafter  would  be  clear  profit."   Belote,  The  Scioto  Speculation,  i,  20. 

1  Ibid. 

*  Observations  on  the  scheme  of  lottery,  respecting  the  contract  of  lands  on 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  87 

nection.  How  this  should  be  worked  out  he  set  forth  in  what 
he  called  a  "Plan  of  a  society  for  promoting  the  emigration 
from  Europe  in  the  [sic]  United  States."  There  were  many 
sober,  industrious  people  in  the  various  countries  of  Europe 
who,  he  was  convinced,  would  be  only  too  glad  to  emigrate  to 
the  new  world  if  they  could  do  so  with  safety  and  profit.  But 
they  were  ignorant  of  the  good  opportunities  which  awaited 
them  in  the  western  lands;  they  lacked  money  and  they  did 
not  know  how  to  get  there.  This  was  a  rare  chance  for  an  enter- 
prising company.  Such  a  company  should  buy  lands,  establish 
a  house,  or  else  enter  into  a  partnership  with  a  house  already 
estabhshed  in  a  "part  of  Europe:  1,  not  very  far  from  home; 
2d,  in  the  center  of  Europe;  3d,  in  a  free  government  where  its 
operations  should  not  be  liable  to  be  enquired  into."  ^  Such  a 
society,  he  continued,  ought  further  to  distribute  throughout 
Europe  pamphlets  in  various  languages,  setting  forth  the  phys- 
ical, political,  and  commercial  advantages  to  be  enjoyed  in  the 
United  States.  It  ought,  moreover,  to  assist  worthy  emigrants 
with  money,  grants  of  land,  and  agricultural  implements. 

Whether  these  attempts  of  Brissot's  to  promote  a  European 
company  were  in  the  interest  of  the  French  Scioto  Com- 
pany or  in  opposition  to  it  in  order  to  further  his  own  private 
interests,  is  not  clear.  But  whatever  may  have  been  his  rela- 
tions to  Barlow  and  the  French  Company  up  to  the  spring  of 

1789,  it  is  clear  that  from  that  date  he  attacked  the  French 
Scioto  Company  most  bitterly,  and  tried  to  divert  interest 
from  it  to  schemes  of  his  own  for  American  settlements.  Wit- 
ness the  announcement  in  the  Patriate  Frangais  of  April  23, 

1790,  of  a  proposed  French  settlement  in  America,  not  con- 
nected —  it  is  significantly  added  —  with  the  Scioto  Company. 

the  Mississippi  (undated).  Notes  by  Brissot  in  the  collection  of  Brissot's  papers 
belonging  to  M.  Charles  Vellay,  referred  to  above. 

^  The  plan  is  undated,  but  according  to  M.  Perroud,  it  was  probably  drawn 
up  about  1786  or  1787.  It  would  fit  in,  however,  he  adds,  with  the  announce- 
ment in  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  April  23,  1790.  Correspondance,  458-60.  It 
is  in  Brissot's  handwriting  and  in  English,  and  incidentally  shows  how  much 
grasp  he  had  of  the  language. 


88  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  advantages  of  such  a  settlement,  at  this  juncture,  are 
portrayed  in  glowing  terms,  but  at  the  same  time  persons  in- 
tending to  emigrate  are  warned  that  unless  they  are  lovers  of 
democratic  simplicity  and  of  liberty  and  equality,  they  will  not 
be  suited  to  the  life  of  the  settler.  It  is  added  that  the  posses- 
sion of  some  means  is  also  necessary.  "From  what  has  just 
been  said,"  the  writer  continues,  "it  is  evident  that  this  estab- 
lishment does  not  resemble  at  all  that  proposed  by  the  Scioto 
Company.  That  company  demands  a  considerable  fortune, 
this  one  does  not;  that  one  carries  on  its  operations  in  a  coun- 
try not  yet  inhabited,  this  one  in  a  country  already  settled." 
Persons  wishing  further  information  are  directed  to  wTite,  care 
of  the  Patriote  Frangais.  A  few  months  later  the  Patrwte 
Frangais  made  a  more  direct  attack  on  what  it  designated 
as  the  "so-called  Scioto  Company."  This  company,  it  was 
alleged,  was  victimizing  French  citizens.^ 

It  was  only  the  French  Company,  however,  which  Brissot 
had  attacked;  the  original  company  he  continued  to  defend, 
and  with  good  reason,  for  he  had  been  given  power  of  attorney 
by  Craigie  for  the  sale  of  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Susquehanna,  ^ 
and  if  suspicion  were  thrown  upon  the  company,  his  own  in- 
terests would  suffer.  In  the  published  account  of  his  travels, 
the  Nouveau  Voyage,  which  appeared  in  April,  1791,  he  ac- 
cordingly spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  the  Scioto  Company, 
and  expatiated  on  the  advantages  of  the  western  lands. ^  In- 
deed, his  wish  to  portray  the  United  States  as  a  desirable  place 
for  emigration  may  have  been  quite  as  potent  a  factor  in  has- 
tening the  publication  of  the  work  as  his  endeavor  to  further 
liberty  in  France.  Furthermore,  just  at  this  time  he  was 
brought  into  connection  by  an  American  friend,  Miers  Fisher, 
with  American  agents  interested  in  the  lands  near  the  Ohio, 

^  Patriote  Frangais,  August  4,  1790. 

2  Craigie  to  Brissot,  January  24,  1789.  Scioto  Papers,  New  York  Historical 
Society. 

3  In  a  letter,  apparently  from  Dupont,  of  November  28,  1791,  Brissot  is 
informed  that  he  is  criticized  for  speaking  so  highly  of  a  company  in  which  he 
is  himself  interested.  Scioto  Papers,  American  Antiquarian  Society. 


TRAVELS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  89 

and  asked  to  assist  in  the  sales  in  company  with  Claviere  at  a 
commission  of  two  and  one  half  per  cent.^  He  was  also  inter- 
ested in  the  Illinois  Company,  and  eagerly  searched  for  infor- 
mation concerning  its  lands  and  settlements. ^  In  all  these  va- 
rious ways  he  tried  to  further  emigration,  sometimes,  it  would 
appear,  with  more  zeal  than  discretion.  That  a  man  wanted  to 
settle  in  America  was  sufficient  for  Brissot ;  whether  he  had  the 
proper  qualifications  for  a  settler  on  the  frontier  mattered  little. 
The  letters  of  Madame  Brissot  at  this  epoch  throw  a  side 
light  on  the  matter.  From  them  it  is  evident  that  Brissot's 
home  was  a  rendezvous  for  would-be  emigrants,  not  always 
of  the  most  desirable  character,' 

He  even  thought  of  emigrating  himself.  Indeed,  when  he  left 
America  it  was  with  the  evident  intention  of  returning,*  but 
as  political  affairs  more  and  more  absorbed  his  attention,  he 
gave  it  up.  However,  the  charm  of  country  life  as  he  had  seen 
it  there  still  fascinated  him  and  was  probably  one  of  the  in- 
fluences which  led  to  his  plans  for  the  Socieie  agricole  ou  d'amis. 
This  was  an  association,  which  he  tried  to  form  in  connection 
with  the  Rolands  and  other  friends,  for  buying  lands  from  the 
government  and  establishing  a  common  life  in  the  country.^ 
The  project,  however,  did  not  materialize. 

But  although  Brissot  never  returned  to  America,  he  main- 
tained an  active  correspondence  with  numerous  friends  there, 
both  personal  and  professional.  The  settlement  of  his  brother- 
in-law  in  Pennsylvania  kept  him  in  close  touch  with  Ameri- 
can affairs,  while  his  connection  with  the  land  speculations 
influenced  his  ideas  and  activities, 

^  Letter  of  Miers  Fisher  to  Brissot,  February  2,  1791.  Correspondance,  261, 
and  another  letter  of  November  3,  1790,  in  Scioto  Papers,  American  Anti- 
quarian Society. 

^  Notes  in  Brissot's  wTiting  communicated  to  the  writer  by  M.  Charles 
Vellay  of  Paris. 

^  Correspondance,  242-45. 

*  Letter  of  Frangois  Dupont.  Craigie  Papers,  American  Antiquarian  So- 
ciety. 

*  See  p,  150,  See  also  for  the  constitution  of  the  society,  Correspondance, 
461, 


90  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  political  influence  of  Brissot's  travels  was  also  of  much 
importance  and  is  seen  throughout  his  career  in  the  Revolution. 
Indeed,  it  was  largely  with  the  purpose  of  bringing  American 
example  before  France  that  he  decided  in  the  midst  of  the  tur- 
moil of  the  Revolution  to  publish  an  account  of  his  journey. 
Such  an  undertaking  might  seem  out  of  place,  he  wrote  in  his 
preface,  since  "we  also  have  acquired  our  liberty,  but  to  ac- 
quire liberty  is  only  the  first  step ;  we  must  learn  from  the  Ameri- 
cans the  secret  of  preserving  it."  That  secret,  Brissot  con- 
tinued, consisted  chiefly  in  a  high  standard  of  morality.  "I 
see  with  pain,"  he  went  on,  "not  only  that  we  do  not  yet 
possess  it,  but  that  we  are  not  yet  persuaded  of  the  absolute 
necessity  of  it  for  the  maintenance  of  liberty.  .  .  .  Without 
private  morality,  no  pure  pubhc  moraUty,  no  public  spirit,  no 
liberty  !"  ^  To  make  the  work  more  complete,  he  added  the 
volume  already  published  in  collaboration  with  Claviere,  — 
De  la  France  el  des  Eiats  Unis.  To  round  out  the  whole,  a  fourth 
volume  was  needed,  dealing  with  political  connections,  but  the 
time  failed  him  for  that.^  Indeed,  in  order  to  publish  the  work 
at  all,  he  was  obliged  to  sacrifice  polish;  but  the  time  was  ripe, 
he  was  convinced,  for  just  such  information,  and  if  he  were  to 
help  France  in  her  revolution  he  must  publish  the  work  as  it 
was.^ 

Throughout  the  Revolution  America  continued  to  be  his 
model.  His  constant  appeals  to  American  precedent  in  foreign 
affairs,  his  attempt  to  mould  a  constitution  for  France  on  the 
lines  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  his  furtherance  of 
Genet's  appointment  and  of  his  mission  to  Spanish  America, 
and,  finally,  his  alleged  adherence  to  federalism  based  on  the 
ground  of  his  admiration  for  the  Republic  across  the  water,^  — 
all  this  is  evidence  both  of  the  lasting  results  of  his  travels  upon 
himself  and  also  of  the  influence  which,  through  him,  was 
exerted  upon  the  French  Revolution  by  American  institutions. 

1  Nouveau  Voyage,  preface,  i,  xii.  *  Ibid.,  preface,  i,  xxi,  xxs. 

'  The  work  was  published  in  April,  1791. 
*  See  chapters  \^,  viii,  and  x. 


CHAPTER  V 

brissot's  career  as  a  municipal  politician  durinq 

THE   constituent   ASSEMBLY 

The  news  of  the  rapidly  rising  tide  of  excitement  at  the 
approaching  meeting  of  the  States-General  had  cut  short  Bris- 
sot's travels  in  the  United  States  and  brought  him  back  post- 
haste to  France.  He  found  that  the  country  was  indeed  in  a 
ferment  of  excitement,  people  everywhere  were  discussing  the 
organization  and  functions  of  the  States- General,  and  the  press 
was  pouring  forth  a  flood  of  pamphlets  on  the  subject.  Here 
was  his  opportunity  of  applying  his  ideas  of  reform,  and  into 
this  ferment  he  threw  himself  with  characteristic  ardor.  He 
wrote  pamphlets,  organized  committees,  and  made  political 
addresses.  In  his  friend  Claviere  he  found  active  sympathy, 
and  his  house  and  Claviere's  soon  became  centers  for  political 
discussion.  According  to  Dumont  who  sometimes  attended 
these  meetings  it  was  all  useless  chatter.^  The  active  partici- 
pants, however,  were  tremendously  in  earnest  and  felt  that  they 
were  performing  a  most  useful  and  indispensable  work  in  draw- 
ing up  declarations  of  rights  and  laying  down  principles  for  con- 
ducting the  proceedings  of  the  States-General.  His  own  ideas 
on  these  subjects  Brissot  hastened  to  set  forth  in  a  pamphlet 
called  Plan  de  conduite  pour  les  deputes  du  peuple  aux  Etats- 
Generaux  de  1789,  a  production  of  considerable  importance 
for  the  light  it  throws  upon  Brissot's  attitude  at  this  important 
epoch.  Like  most  of  the  pamphleteers  of  the  time,  he  began 
with  a  discussion  of  the  system  of  voting.  After  considering 
various  methods  of  voting,  par  ordre,  par  tete,  by  a  number  of 
bureaus,  by  two  chambers,  one  of  which  should  be  composed  of 
clergy  and  nobility,  the  other  of  members  of  the  third  estate, 

^  Dumont,  Souvenirs  de  Mirabeau,  33;  see  also  Lettres  de  Mme.  Roland,  ed. 
by  Perroud,  ii,  737,  Appendix  Q. 


92  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

he  declared  himself  opposed  to  all  these  methods,  and  proposed 
instead  voting  by  two  chambers,  each  of  which  should  be  con- 
stituted as  follows:  clergy,  125;  nobility,  125;  third  estate,  250. 
In  case  of  failure  to  agree,  the  two  chambers  were  to  meet 
together  as  one  body,  and  decide  the  matter  by  a  majority  vote. 
As  for  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  States-General,  it  should  in 
the  first  place  take  steps  to  secure  the  inviolability  of  letters 
committed  to  the  post,  and  also  the  liberty  of  its  members;  and 
in  order  to  do  its  work  uninfluenced  by  the  court,  it  should  re- 
move to  Paris.  Further,  in  order  that  no  able  men  should  be 
shut  out  of  the  States-General,  no  matter  what  their  financial 
condition,  the  members  should  be  paid.  "  Not  to  pay  a  salary," 
he  maintained,  "would  lead  in  France,  as  it  has  in  England,  to 
corruption."  It  would  shut  out  from  the  assemblies  men  of 
talent  who  are  not  always  in  easy  circumstances.  They  have 
had  experience  in  this  matter  in  America,  and  that  is  why  the 
members  of  Congress  are  paid.  The  salary  ought  to  be  suf- 
ficiently large  to  provide  for  the  daily  expenses  of  the  members, 
but  not  so  large  as  to  make  the  position  of  deputy  sought  for  as 
a  profession  or  profitable  employment.  The  business  of  this 
body,  he  declared,  was  purely  legislative.  To  make  a  constitu- 
tion was  outside  of  its  province;  it  could  only  decree  that  the 
nation  call  a  special  body  for  that  purpose.  It  would  not  be 
sufficient,  however,  to  give  to  the  States-General  control  of  the 
taxes  and  of  the  army,  as  in  England;  there  must  be  permanent, 
annual,  and  independent  meetings  of  this  body.  Such  meetings 
will  serve  to  counterbalance  the  bad  influence  of  the  ministers, 
but  they  will  not  destroy  monarchy.  "On  the  contrary,"  he 
declared,  "the  true  support  of  the  French  monarchy  will  be 
in  annual  meetings  of  the  States-General.  The  present  reign- 
ing family  cannot  have  a  surer  and  more  invariable  support." 
This  statement  was  somewhat  startling  from  a  man  who  less 
than  three  years  before  had  declared  that  no  radical  reform 
was  possible  under  a  monarchy.  It  shows  that  Brissot  had 
either  modified  his  ideas  or  else,  in  view  of  the  possibility  of 
election  to  the  States-General,  had  modified  their  expression. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  93 

Meanwhile  he  actively  engaged  in  the  actual  preliminaries 
of  the  elections.  For  electoral  purposes,  Paris  had  been  divided 
into  sixty  districts.  Each  district  was  to  choose  delegates  to 
the  general  electoral  assembly  of  the  third  estate,  and  the  gen- 
eral electoral  assembly,  in  turn,  was  to  choose  twenty  rep- 
resentatives to  the  States-General.  In  his  owti  district,  that  of 
the  Filles-Saint-Thomas,  Brissot  hardly  arrived  on  the  scene 
before  he  stepped  into  a  place  of  prominence  and  was  soon 
elected  as  its  president.  Even  before  the  district  had  finished 
its  legitimate  business  of  choosing  electors,  he  came  forward 
with  a  plan,  the  object  of  which  was  to  enable  the  districts  to 
exercise  some  surveillance  over  the  States-General,  —  in  other 
words  to  enable  the  people  to  maintain  their  sovereignty. 
This  was  to  be  accomplished  by  means  of  committees  of  cor- 
respondence between  the  districts,  the  electors,  and  the  depu- 
ties of  Paris.  If  the  two  orders  should  fight  for  their  preten- 
sions, he  argued,  the  third  estate  would  fight  for  its  "  inalienable 
rights."  In  case  a  schism  should  result,  the  deputies  would 
return  to  their  constituents,  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts. 
The  districts,  therefore,  should  remain  in  readiness  to  assemble, 
and  the  only  means  of  assembling  the  people  was  by  a  com- 
mittee of  correspondence  always  in  activity.  As  a  result  of  his 
argument,  his  district  appointed  such  a  committee,  with  Bris- 
sot himself  at  its  head,  and  invited  the  other  districts  to  take 
like  action.^  The  invitation  met  with  a  speedy  response,  and 
there  was  thus  created,  largely  through  Brissot's  instrumental- 
ity, permanent  organizations,  which  were  to  have  an  important 
part  in  the  development  of  the  future  government  of  Paris. ^ 

He  next  proceeded  to  draft  a  statement  of  grievances  for  the 
use  of  the  electoral  assembly  in  drawing  up  its  cahier  of  com- 
plaints. Although  not  a  member  of  this  assembly  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  offer  his  advice.  They  would  do  well,  he  wrote,  to 

1  Observations  svr  la  necessity  d'6tablir,  dans  les  differents  districts  et  dans 
VAssemhUe  genSrale  des  eledeurs  de  Paris,  des  comitSs  de  correspondance  avec 
les  dSputSs  de  Paris  aux  Etats-GSnSreaux,  2  avril,  1789. 

*  Chassin,  Les  Elections,  u,  403. 


94  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

limit  their  instructions  to  their  deputies  to  four  subjects  — 
the  organization  of  the  States-General,  and  the  manner  of  its 
deliberation,  a  declaration  of  rights,  the  consolidation  of  the 
debt  and  temporary  means  of  payment.  Then  after  summing 
up  what  he  had  already  said  on  these  subjects  in  his  Plan  de 
conduite,  he  reiterated  with  especial  emphasis  his  previous 
statement  that  until  fundamental  rights  were  established, 
Paris  had  better  be  silent  as  to  her  own  special  grievances.^ 

While  dealing  with  the  principles  to  be  upheld  by  the  elec- 
toral assemblies  and  by  the  States-General  he  was  quite  as 
vitally  interested  in  the  persons  to  be  elected.  One  may  be  sure 
that  the  frequent  excited  gatherings  at  his  house  and  the  hur- 
ried notes  which  he  and  his  friends  were  constantly  sending  to 
each  other  were  not  concerned  with  principles  alone,  but  also 
with  the  interests  of  individuals.  One  may  be  sure,  too,  that 
all  this  activity  of  Brissot's  was  not  entirely  disinterested.  He 
looked  forward  to  the  States-General  as  a  means  of  overthrow- 
ing various  forms  of  despotism  which  he  had  long  and  vigor- 
ously attacked,  and  he  was  desperately  anxious  to  have  a  part 
himself  in  the  final  assault.  The  25th  of  April  he  wrote  in 
English  to  a  friend :  "  We  are  in  the  electioneering  fire.  There  is 
some  chances  [sic]  for  me.  I  have  preached  very  successfully 
[sic]  the  people.  However,  there  are  so  many  intrigues  that 
I  am  quite  desponding."  ^  His  friends  at  Chartres,  among 
whom  were  Petion  and  the  Countess  de  Seinie,  were  specially 
active  in  his  behalf  and  put  him  forward  as  a  candidate  for 
deputy  from  his  native  place.  ^  But  their  efforts  were  unsuc- 
cessful, and  at  Paris,  notwithstanding  his  prominence  in  his 
district,  for  some  reason  he  was  not  chosen  even  to  the  elec- 
toral assembly.^  Although  discouraged,  he  still  hoped  that  he 

1  PrScis  adressS  a  VAssembUe  g6nSrale  des  Sledeurs  de  Paris  pour  servir  a  la 
ridaction  du  cahier  des  dolSances  de  cette  ville.  May,  1789.  See  Chassin,  iii,  211. 

2  Correspondance,  230.  This  note  shows  the  extent  of  his  knowledge  of 
English. 

3  Ibid.,  225-28. 

*  In  his  PrScis  adressS  a  VAssemblSe  he  alluded  to  the  singular  circumstances 
which  prevented  his  election.  See  also  his  Discours  prononcS  a  VMection  du 
district  des  Pilles-SaintrThomas,  le  21  avril.  1789.  Note  also  that  some  light  is 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  95 

might  be  chosen  to  the  States-General,  and  it  was,  undoubt- 
edly, as  much  to  further  his  own  cause,  as  to  set  forth  his 
principles,  that  he  drew  up  the  advice  as  to  the  cahier.  In- 
deed, this  draft  of  a  statement  of  grievances  was  in  part  at 
least  the  expression  of  his  own  grievance  in  not  being  elected, 
and  an  excuse  for  calling  the  attention  of  the  electors  to  the 
fact  that  in  choosing  the  deputies  they  were  not  limited  to 
their  own  number.^ 

His  reputation  as  a  pamphleteer  and  a  humanitarian  helped 
his  cause,  and  his  name  was  inserted  fourth  in  a  list  of  "  twenty- 
one  friends  of  the  people  who  deserve  to  be  the  choice  of  the 
electors  of  Paris."  The  document  in  which  this  assertion  was 
made  further  declared  that  "  there  had  been  distributed  in  Paris 
lists  in  which  celebrated  names  were  mixed  with  the  names  of 
obscure  and  dangerous  men."  But  in  this  list,  the  public  was 
assured,  were  inscribed  "  only  those  persons  who  had  made  open 
profession  of  defending  the  cause  of  the  people."  ^  But  in  spite 
of  all  these  efforts,  he  was  not  elected,  a  result  which  he  after- 
ward declared  was  due  in  part  to  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  against  him,  though  his  reason  for  the  supposition  is 
not  clear.^  He  was  naturally  bitterly  disappointed,  but  a  man 

thrown  on  the  matter  by  fitienne  Dumont.  He  says:  "J'Sfais  a  la  section  des 
Filles-Saint-Thomas ;  cStait  un  quartier  central,  occupS  par  la  classe  la  plus 
opulente :  pendant  long-temps  il  ny  avail  pas  deux  cent  ijidividus.  Vembarras 
de  se  mettre  en  action  Stait  extreme;  le  bruit  Stait  affreux.  Tout  le  mondeStait 
debout,  tous  parlaient  a  la-fois  ;  les  plus  grandes  efforts  du  president  nobtenaient 
pas  deux  minutes  de  silence.  II  y  eut  bien  d'autres  difficultes  srir  la  maniere  de 
prendre  les  suffrages,  et  de  les  compter.  J'avais  recueilli  pluisieurs  traits  curieux 
de  cette  enfance  de  la  democratic,  mais  ils  sont  a-peu-pres  effaces  de  ma  memoire. 
Us  revenaient  tous  a  V empressement  des  hommes  a  pretention,  qui  voulaient  parler 
pour  se  faire  connditre,  et  sefaire  connditre  pour  etre  Slus. 

"On  voyait  les  premiers  essais  de  Vart  des  intrigues  et  des  cabales  pour  faire 
tomber  les  nominations  sur  ceux  de  son  partie.  On  ne  voxdait  point  rfe  listes  de 
candidats  ;  tous  Staient  appeUs  d,  choisir  sur  tous.  Les  voix  se  disperserent  teU 
lement  dans  les  premieres  operations,  qu'on  ne  pouvait  obtcnir  la  majoritS  ab- 
solue  pour  aucun  des  designes.  II  fallut  reitirer  V Election  jusqud  ce  quenfin  on 
obtint  le  resultat  nScessaire."  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  39-40. 

^  Precis  adressS  a  I' Assemble  ginSrale  des  ilecteurs  de  Paris. 

2  Chassin,  ii,  312. 

'  MSmoires,  i,  119.  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  the  time  Brissot  wrote 


96  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

of  his  interests  and  ideas  was  not  going  to  sit  quietly  by  and  let 
reform  go  on  under  his  eyes  without  taking  some  part  in  it. 
Though  cut  off  from  participation  in  legislation,  he  was  by  no 
means  cut  off  from  exercising  influence  upon  it.  There  were 
other  opportunities,  and  he  seized  upon  them,  threw  himself 
heart  and  soul  into  the  work  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  and 
made  it  a  factor  with  which  the  States- General  had  to  deal. 
He  established  a  newspaper  —  the  Patriote  Frangais  —  which 
helped  to  create  public  opinion,  and  so,  in  turn,  influenced 
legislation,  and  if  he  could  not  be  a  leader  in  the  reorganization 
of  France,  he  played  a  very  important  part  in  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  Paris,  in  establishing  its  liberty,  and  in  transferring 
authority  from  the  central  government  to  the  people. 

"The  Revolution  made  Paris  a  commune  before  it  made 
France  a  nation,"  says  M.  Monin.^  The  old  government  of 
the  city  was  divided  between  the  parlement,  the  Chdtelet,  the 
ministry  of  Paris,  the  lieutenant-general  of  the  police,  certain 
guilds,  the  hotel  de  ville,  the  church,  and  the  university.  "It 
was  a  chaos  of  competing  authorities,  a  tangle  of  obsolete  priv- 
ileges, and  a  nest  of  scandalous  abuses.  Anomalous  courts 
jostled  and  scrambled  for  jurisdiction,  ancient  guilds  and  cor- 
porations blocked  every  reform,  atrocious  injustice  and  in- 
veterate corruption  reigned  high-handed  in  the  name  of  king, 
noble  or  church."  By  a  single  event,  the  storming  of  the  Bas- 
tille, this  ancient  municipal  regime  was  swept  from  power  and 
a  clear  field  was  left  for  the  development  of  a  modern  city  gov- 
ernment in  Paris.  But  to  tear  down  was  one  thing;  to  build  up 
quite  another.  Immediately  on  the  fall  of  the  Bastille  and  the 
flight  of  the  constituted  authorities,  the  instinct  for  law  and 
order  asserted  itself  and  led  to  the  acclamation  of  Bailly  as 

his  memoirs,  it  was  to  his  interest  to  show  that  there  was  no  connection 
between  him  and  the  Duke. 

1  rtltat  de  Paris  en  1789,  27.  A  comparison  of  the  present  government  of 
London  and  of  Paris  makes  clear  the  advantage  which  the  latter  gained  in  the 
Revolution.  Whereas  London  still  suffers  from  the  overlapping  of  authori- 
ties and  from  antiquated  tradition,  the  government  of  Paris  is  clear  cut  and 
thoroughly  modern. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  97 

Mayor  of  Paris  and  of  Lafayette  as  commander  of  the  national 
guard,  but  it  was  not  until  October,  1790,  after  several  unsuc- 
cessful experiments  and  organizations,  that  anything  like  a 
permanent  and  legal  form  of  municipal  government  was  estab- 
lished. In  the  actual  attack  on  the  Bastille,  there  is  no  record 
that  Brissot  took  any  part,  but  with  the  resulting  events  he  was 
closely  connected.  As  the  president  of  the  district  of  the  Filles- 
Saint-Thomas  he  had  the  honor  of  receiving  the  keys  of  the 
fortress,^  he  is  said  to  have  been  prominent  in  putting  forward 
Lafayette  ^  as  commander  of  the  national  guard,  and  in  the 
slow  process  of  building  up  the  new  city  government,  he  was 
one  of  the  leaders. 

The  machinery  for  forming  a  new  government  was  set  in 
motion  by  the  electoral  assembly.  This  assembly  had  been 
chosen  in  the  spring  of  1789  and  was  charged  solely  with  the 
duties  of  drawing  up  a  general  cahier  and  of  electing  the  depu- 
ties of  the  third  estate  of  Paris  to  the  States-General.  After 
performing  these  duties  it  had  no  further  legal  warrant  for 
existence,  but  nevertheless  it  did  not  dissolve;  and,  when  on 
July  13  and  14  the  old  city  government  fell  to  pieces,  it  slipped 
into  the  vacant  place,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  electoral 
organizations  of  the  districts,  proceeded  to  take  upon  itself 
the  government  of  the  city.  The  district  assemblies,  like  the 
general  assemblies  of  the  electors,  were  formed  with  the  one 

*  This  rests  on  Brissot's  own  statement  given  by  Charpentier  in  La  Bas- 
tille divoilSe,  i,  troisieme  livraison,  78.  It  is  also  mentioned  in  the  introduction 
to  the  Moniteur.  But  the  original  Moniieur  was  not  published  till  November, 
1789,  and  the  edition  containing  the  introduction  was  not  published  till  1796. 
This  reference  is  therefore  not  contemporaneous  and  is  probably  derived  from 
Brissot's  own  statement.  A  key  of  the  Bastille  was  sent  to  Washington  by 
Lafayette  (Washington  s  Writings,  ed.  by  Ford,  xi,  493).  It  is  possible  that 
Lafayette  may  have  received  the  key  from  Brissot. 

^  "On  se  rappelle  que  c'est  lui  [Brissot]  qui  appuya  a  la  Maison  Commune,  la 
motion  faite  par  le  flagorneur  Fauchet,  de  nommer  le  sieur  Mottie,  generalissime 
des  guardes  nationale."'  Note  of  DelacroLx  in  U Intrigue  divoilee,  ou  Robespierre 
vengi  des  outrages  et  des  calomnies  des  amhitieux,  quoted  in  Annates  revolu- 
tionnaires,  i,  338-39,  April,  1908.  This  is  very  doubtful  authority,  however, 
as  it  was  to  the  interest  of  Delacroix  to  make  out  Brissot  as  closely  connected 
with  Lafayette. 


98  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

purpose  of  carrying  on  the  election,  and  on  the  completion  of 
that  work  should  have  dissolved.  Instead,  they  proceeded  to 
effect  a  more  or  less  permanent  organization  and  to  take  part 
in  political  discussion.  This  was  due  to  Brissot,  who  with  his 
plan  of  committees  of  correspondence,  furnished  the  means  for 
permanency.  There  was  thus  created  a  number  of  local  organ- 
izations to  which  the  electoral  assembly  could  appeal.  This 
assembly  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  irregularity,  not  to  say 
the  illegality  of  its  position  as  a  city  government,  and  within 
a  few  days  after  the  fall  of  the  Bastille  it  suffered  the  districts 
to  make  formal  choice  of  a  regular  central  assembly.  The  muni- 
cipal government  thus  created  was  called  the  assembly  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Commune  and  met  for  the  first  time, 
July  25,  1789.1 

As  the  president  and  most  prominent  representative  of  the 
district  of  the  Filles-Saint-Thomas  Brissot  was  elected  to  the 
new  municipality,  and  thus  he  found  his  first  real  opportunity 
of  applying  his  political  theories  to  the  solution  of  practical 
problems.  These  theories,  as  has  been  seen,  tended  toward 
democracy  and  popular  sovereignty.  The  first  problem  which 
presented  itself  was  that  of  providing  a  permanent  municipal 
organization.  \Miere,  for  instance,  was  the  balance  of  power 
to  be,  —  with  the  district,  or  with  the  central  administrative 
body  ?  —  a  question  of  sovereignty.  In  the  formation  of  a  muni- 
cipal constitution  how  far  was  the  city  to  act  independently  of 
the  National  Assembly? —  a  question  of  liberty  or  sovereignty 
under  another  aspect.  Was  Paris,  like  other  cities,  to  be  in- 
cluded in  a  department,  or  was  it  to  form  a  government  by 
itself?  —  a  question  of  equality. 

To  each  of  these  questions  Brissot  had  a  ready  answer,  but 

*  The  successive  stages  of  the  development  of  this  city  government  may  be 
very  briefly  stated  as  follows:  (1)  the  assembly  of  the  electors  of  Paris  from 
July  14  to  July  25,  1789;  (2)  the  temporary  Commune  which  lasted  from  July 
25  to  September  18, 1789;  (3)  the  second  temporary  Commime  from  September 
25,  1789,  to  October  8,  1790;  (4)  the  permanent  Commune  which  was  estab- 
lished October  8, 1790.  See  Lacroix,  Actes  de  la  Commune  de  Paris,  pendant  la 
Revolution;  Introduction,  i,  u. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  99 

as  he  was  not  elected  to  the  constitutional  committee  of  the 
municipal  assembly,  it  seemed  at  first  that  he  was  to  have  little 
chance  to  exert  his  influence.  A  general  laxity  in  the  manage- 
ment of  committee  business,  however,  had  made  it  possible  for 
persistent  outsiders  to  take  part  in  the  discussions  and  influ- 
ence the  decisions.  Taking  advantage  of  this  state  of  things, 
Brissot  succeeded  in  attaching  himself  to  the  committee  as 
a  kind  of  unofficial  member,  and  in  exercising  considerable  in- 
fluence upon  its  conclusions.  For  instance,  the  plan  for  a  con- 
stitution as  it  had  been  originally  presented  to  the  committee 
had  contained  no  declaration  of  rights.  This  seemed  to  Brissot 
so  glaring  an  omission  that  he  promptly  drew  up  a  municipal 
charter  which  did  contain  such  a  declaration  and  submitted  it 
to  the  committee.  The  declaration  asserted  that  cities  had  the 
right  to  form  their  own  government,  subject  to  the  general 
supervision  of  the  central  government;  that  Paris,  as  a  unique 
city,  ought  to  have  a  special  form  of  government  and  be  con- 
sidered both  a  city  and  a  province;  that  all  citizens  ought  to 
have  part  in  the  elections ;  and  that  the  preponderance  of  power 
should  lie  with  the  central  city  administration  and  not  with  the 
districts.^  Brissot  unfortunately  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
consistent,  for  in  his  Motifs  des  commissaires  pour  adopter  le 
plan  de  municipalite  he  makes  the  suffrage  depend  on  the  pay- 
ment of  a  direct  and  personal  tax. 

The  plan  itself  provided  for  the  division  of  Paris  into  sixty 
districts;  for  a  central  legislative  body  of  three  hundred  mem- 
bers, five  from  each  district;  for  the  renewal  of  one  fifth  of  the 
legislative  body  each  year;  and  for  a  conseil  de  ville  of  sixty 
members,  the  majority  of  whom  were  to  be  chosen  by  the  legis- 
lative body  of  the  municipality.  Its  fundamental  principle, 
the  concentration  of  power  in  the  legislative  body  of  three  hun- 
dred, was  certainly  not  in  harmony  with  the  declaration  of 
rights  nor  with  Brissot's  ideas  of  democracy,  and  was  a  de- 
cided contrast  to  other  plans  which  gave  more  power  to  the 

*  Observations  sur  le  plan  de  municipalHi  de  Paris,  suivies  du  plan  original 
et  (Tune  declaration  des  droits  des  municipalii^s. 


100  BRISSOT  DE   WARVILLE 

mayor  or  to  the  districts.  Two  of  its  features  suggest  the 
arrangements  frequently  carried  out  in  a  modern  city  govern- 
ment: the  close  relation  of  the  districts  to  the  central  govern- 
ment, secured  by  making  the  president  of  each  district  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislative  body;  and  the  system  of  partial  renewal 
of  that  body.  This  concentration  of  power  naturally  met  with 
much  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  districts.  It  was  asserted 
that  places  would  be  open  only  to  the  rich.  In  consequence  the 
municipality  would  degenerate  into  an  aristocracy,  and  finally, 
these  class  distinctions  could  be  avoided  only  by  such  gen- 
eral periodic  renewals  in  the  assembly  as  would  leave  at  each 
renewal  only  a  minority  of  former  members  in  office.  The  dis- 
tricts also  claimed  that  the  choice  of  the  conseil  de  ville  be- 
longed of  right  to  them,  and  not  to  the  legislative  body;  and 
further,  that  one  member  should  be  chosen  to  this  council  from 
each  district,  —  a  claim  which  suggests  the  modern  question 
of  ward  representation.^  Brissot's  plan  was  accordingly  modi- 
fied in  this  particular,  the  choice  of  the  conseil  de  ville  being 
transferred  to  the  districts.  ^  Nevertheless,  the  essential  part 
of  his  plan  was  accepted  and  formed  the  basis  of  the  successive 
provisional  organizations  under  which  Paris  was  governed  from 
September,  1789,  to  October,  1790.  Brissot  was  elected  to  the 
assembly  of  the  representatives  under  this  new  government  and 
endeavored  to  take  an  active  part  in  municipal  affairs. 

The  second  important  question  in  regard  to  the  new  city 
government,  the  proper  relation  of  the  national  government  to 
municipal  government,  Brissot  answered  quite  in  accord  with 
his  principles  of  democracy  and  with  the  most  modern  ideas  of 
"home  rule  for  cities."  ^  Municipal  and  provincial  assemblies, 
he  declared,  ought,  as  far  as  their  objects  and  their  power  are 
concerned,  to  be  entirely  distinct  and  separate  from  the  national 
legislative  assembly.  The  function  of  the  latter  was  merely  to 
give  its  sanction  to  every  municipal  and  provincial  constitu- 

1  Robiquet,  Le  personnel  municipal,  147-148,  note;  162.        "  Ibid.,  162. 
'  Discoins  prononcS  par  Brissot  de  Warville  au  district  des  Filles-Saint- 
Thomas,  July  21,  1789.  Lacroix,  Actes  de  la  Commune,  i,  292. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  101 

tion.  In  short,  cities  ought  to  have  the  right  to  form  their  own 
municipal  governments;  to  the  central  government  belonged 
only  the  veto  power  over  the  clauses  of  the  municipal  constitu- 
tions. Indeed,  Brissot  was  so  jealous  of  the  rights  of  the  new 
government  of  Paris  that  when  Mirabeau,  in  speaking  of  the 
rights  of  local  civil  authorities,  criticized  the  municipalities  as 
being  aristocratic  and  despotic,^  he  saw  in  Mirabeau's  remarks 
an  attack  on  Paris  and  immediately  proceeded  to  arraign  Mira- 
beau in  a  letter  published  in  the  Patriote  Frangais  in  which  he 
reiterated  his  former  arguments,  declaring  again  that  it  was 
the  province  of  the  municipalities  to  draw  up  their  own  system 
of  government,  and  that  the  legislative  power  had  only  the  most 
limited  control  over  their  charters.  He  soon  discovered  on 
reading  a  fuller  report  of  the  speech  in  question  that  Mirabeau 
had  really  cast  no  aspersions  on  Paris.  He  was  therefore  obliged 
to  retract  his  too  hasty  criticisms. ^ 

The  third  important  question  was  that  of  the  advisability  of 
including  Paris  in  a  department  of  the  same  size  as  other  de- 
partments, or  of  forming  it  into  a  department  by  itself.  Here 
Brissot  took  what  has  proved  to  be  the  modern  view,  advocat- 
ing a  special  form  of  government  for  Paris  and  claiming  that  it 
was  not  a  violation  of  equality  since  Paris  was  a  unique  city. 
In  a  speech  before  the  city  council  he  advanced  the  argument, 
since  justified  by  experience,  that  the  exceptional  conditions  of 
a  large  city  require  a  particular  kind  of  government,  and  that 
to  make  such  a  city  dependent  on  a  department  in  just  the  same 
manner  as  smaller  cities  were  dependent,  is  to  work  against  the 
interests  of  its  inhabitants.^  In  this  case,  however,  Brissot  was 
not  altogether  successful,  for  although  the  Department  of  the 
Seine  was  so  constituted  as  to  include  but  little  territory  out- 
side of  Paris,  yet  the  Commune  of  Paris  did  not  secure  an 
independent  government  but  was  made  subordinate  to  this 
departmental  government.'* 

1  Moniteur,  August  10-14,  1789.     ^  Patriote  Frangais,  August  17-18,  1789. 
'  Opinion  de  J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warinlle  s^tr  la  question  de  savoir  si  Paris  sera 
le  centre  d'un  dSpartement,  December  15,  1789. 

*  Lacroix,  Actes  de  la  Commune,  iii.  Introduction,  and  p.  197. 


102  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Meanwhile,  in  the  administration,  as  well  as  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  city  government,  he  was  taking  an  active  part.  He 
served  on  committees,  made  speeches  both  in  his  district  and 
section,  and  in  the  central  assembly,  drew  up  addresses,  and  at 
the  same  time,  by  means  of  his  newspaper,  the  Patriote  Fran- 
qais,  kept  the  public  informed  of  municipal  affairs  and  of  his 
own  views  upon  them.  Especially  on  occasions  when  the  muni- 
cipality had  a  communication  to  make  to  the  National  As- 
sembly or  undertook  in  other  ways  to  make  its  influence  felt  in 
national  affairs,  Brissot  was  sure  to  appear  at  the  front,  if  he 
did  not  himself  take  the  initiative.  For  example,  on  the  bring- 
ing of  the  king  and  queen  and  the  National  Assembly  to  Paris, 
he  was  appointed  as  one  of  the  committee  to  draw  up  an  ad- 
dress to  be  sent  to  all  the  municipalities  of  France,^  and  on 
another  committee  to  draw  up  and  present  an  address  to  the 
National  Assembly  on  the  same  occasion.  Both  addresses  ap- 
pear to  have  been  Brissot's  own  work  and  were  skillfully  ex- 
pressed. They  minimized  the  actual  events  of  October  5 
and  6,  dwelt  on  the  advantages  of  the  removal  to  Paris  in 
that  the  Assembly  would  be  more  under  the  influence  of  the 
people,  and  assured  the  Assembly  that  the  municipality  of 
Paris  would  take  all  measures  in  its  power  for  its  protection. 
Again  when  it  was  a  question  of  stating  the  opinion  of  the  muni- 
cipal government  on  toleration  for  the  Jews,  Brissot  was  ap- 
pointed to  examine  a  work  on  the  subject.^  And  once  more 
when  the  very  important  matter  of  the  ecclesiastical  property 
was  under  discussion  he  was  named  on  the  committee  to  pre- 
sent an  address  to  the  National  Assembly  .^  In  this  case  it  was 
strange  that  Brissot  should  have  been  put  on  the  committee, 
for,  in  a  recent  address,  he  had  expressed  views  with  which  the 
municipal  assembly  was  not  in  sympathy.  The  National  As- 
sembly had  offered  to  the  municipalities  of  France  the  op- 
portunity to  purchase  the  lands  of  the  Church,  to  re-sell  them, 
and  to  keep  a  generous  share  of  the  proceeds.  This  opportu- 

^  Lacroix,  Actes  de  la  Commune,  n,  245-47. 
2  Ibid.,  V,  498.  «  Ibid.,  vi,  130. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  103 

nity,  Brissot  declared,  ought  to  be  confined  in  the  case  of  each 
municipality  to  ecclesiastical  territory  within  its  o^ti  limits, 
for,  he  argued,  municipalities  were  local  administrations;  they 
could  look  after  distant  property  only  with  great  inconvenience 
and  expense;  and  finally,  the  conflicting  interests  which  would 
inevitably  arise  would  put  a  severe  strain  upon  the  spirit  of 
fraternity.  Furthermore,  if  the  municipalities  were  really  dis- 
interested, they  would  also  give  up  the  profits  accorded  to  them 
by  the  re-sale.  Paris,  he  added,  had  had  a  fine  chance  to  offer 
to  all  the  other  municipalities  of  France  an  example  of  patriot- 
ism.^ This  opportunity  Paris  declined  to  avail  herself  of,  on 
the  ground  that  a  large  part  of  the  ecclesiastical  property  in 
the  city  of  Paris  was  unproductive,  and  that  as  it  might  be 
years  before  she  could  re-sell,  her  interests  would  be  sadly  in- 
jured if  she  were  limited  in  her  acquisitions  to  Paris  itself.^ 

Meanwhile,  the  city  had  a  more  pressing  diflSculty  to  meet 
in  the  scarcity  of  currency,  and  on  this  question,  too,  Brissot 
had  something  to  say.  The  trouble,  he  declared,  was  due  to  the 
suspension  of  payment  of  its  notes  by  the  caisse  d'escompte. 
This  institution  was  a  bank  of  issue  founded  during  the  reign 
of  Louis  XV,  and  reestablished  under  Turgot.  It  had  not  been 
sufficiently  controlled  by  the  government,  had  gotten  into 
difficulty  and  suspended  payment.  The  remedy,  according  to 
Brissot,  was  not  to  lessen  the  difficulty  for  Paris  by  circulating 
the  bills  of  the  caisse  in  the  provinces,  neither  was  it  to  issue 
small  notes,  but  solely  to  limit  its  privileges  by  making  the 
caisse  d'escompte  redeem  all  its  bills  in  cash.  Every  bill,  he 
declared  in  terms  which  were  hardly  consistent  with  his  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  assignats,  which  was  not  instantly  converti- 
ble into  specie,  was  a  dangerous  kind  of  paper.  The  muni- 
cipality ought  to  appeal  to  the  National  Assembly  to  forbid  a 
further  suspension  of  paymeat  of  the  caisse  d'escompte,  and  to 

*  Motion  siir  la  nSceesitS  de  drconscrire  la  vente  des  Mens  eccUsiastiques  aux 
municipalitis,  dans  leur  territoire.  Prlsentte  a  VAssemblSe  g6n6rale  des  repri' 
sentants  de  la  Commune  de  Paris,  May  22,  1790. 

*  Lacroix,  v,  457.  500;  vi,  51,  59,  130. 


104  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

make  all  possible  haste  to  discover  and  announce  the  real  state 
of  the  finances.^ 

The  finances  were  not  the  only  branch  of  the  administration 
which  Brissot  felt  the  people  of  Paris  ought  to  censure,  and  in 
a  speech  before  the  general  assembly  of  the  section  of  the  Bib- 
liotheque,  the  24th  of  October,  1790,  he  emphasized  his  ideas 
of  popular  sovereignty  and  made  an  appeal  for  the  dismissal  of 
the  entire  ministry,  including  the  first  clerks.  The  request  for 
the  dismissal  of  the  ministry  had  already  been  made,  but 
hitherto  without  result.  "The  National  Assembly  has  suc- 
cumbed," he  cried;  "it  is  now  time  for  the  people  to  triumph, 
it  is  time  for  them  to  make  their  voice  heard.  The  ministers 
of  the  army  and  navy  have  protected  aristocratic  officers;  the 
minister  of  foreign  affairs  has  protected  officers  who  have  not 
taken  the  oath,  the  minister  of  finance  has  badly  mismanaged 
the  finances.  They  should  all  be  dismissed."  In  this  case  Bris- 
sot was  successful,  at  least  to  the  extent  that  a  resolution  was 
passed  urging  their  dismissal  and  sent  to  the  National  As- 
sembly.^ According  to  the  Journal  general  de  la  cour  et  de  la 
mile,  he  was  not  content  with  his  success  in  the  section  of  the 
Bibliofheqne,  but  had  thousands  of  copies  of  his  address  printed 
and  distributed  throughout  Paris.^  Meanwhile,  he  was  standing 
for  the  right  of  the  people  to  criticize,  not  only  the  ministry  but 
their  own  city  officers.  He  also  boldly  upheld  Marat  and  Dan- 
ton  who  represented  the  democratic  party  in  their  attacks  on 
the  moderates  and  aristocrats,  as  represented  by  the  mayor, 
Bailly.  Brissot  thus  allied  himself,  not  only  with  freedom  of 
speech,  but  with  democracy. 

But  Brissot  by  no  means  confined  his  attention  to  Paris  and 
the  influence  of  Paris  on  the  National  Assembly;  he  was  equally 
interested  in  the  development  of  local  government  throughout 

^  Discours  sur  la  raretS  du  numiraire  et  sur  les  moyens  d'y  remMier,  prononcS 
a  V AssemhUe  gSnSrale  des  repr6sentants  de  la  Commune  de  Paris,  le  10  fevrier, 
1790.   Le  Patriote  Franqais,  February  15,  1790. 

*  Discours  jrrononce  h  la  section  de  la  Bibliotheque  dans  son  AssemhUe  g&n6rale 
le  2If  octobre,  1790,  sur  la  question  du  renvoi  des  ministres. 

*  Journal  g^nSral  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville,  November  9,  1790. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  105 

France.  He  was  a  member  of  the  society  of  "patriotic  elec- 
tors" whose  object  was  to  further  the  election  of  good  local 
officers  and  of  the  Societe  des  anciens  representants  de  la  Com- 
mune who  through  their  comite  de  surveillance  kept  up  a  cor- 
respondence with  the  directories,^  while  in  the  columns  of  the 
Patriote  Frangais  he  devoted  much  space  to  local  municipal 
affairs  and  gave  frequent  advice  as  to  the  dangers  to  be  avoided. 
For  example,  in  the  issue  of  the  8th  of  June,  1790,  he  warned 
the  electors  to  be  cautious  in  the  choice  of  their  officers  and  to 
avoid  all  frivolous  and  vain  persons  who  were  incapable  of 
understanding  the  meaning  of  the  word  equality.  On  a  previ- 
ous occasion  he  had  been  more  precise  and  inserted  an  article 
which  advised  the  electors  in  organizing  a  new  government  not 
to  choose  the  present  officers,  nor,  in  short,  any  person  who 
belonged  to  the  old  order  of  things.  Such  advice  naturally  did 
not  escape  the  attention  of  the  proscribed  classes  and  was  the 
occasion  of  an  acrimonious  pamphlet  directed  against  the 
Patriote  Frangais  by  one  of  their  number. ^ 

Throughout  his  career  as  a  municipal  politician,  Brissot 
showed  himself  thoroughly  radical  in  his  hostility  to  the  old 
regime  and  in  his  approval  of  the  new.  He  even  tried  to  use  his 
position  of  influence  in  municipal  affairs  to  further  a  new  colo- 
nial regime.  He  endeavored  to  interest  his  fellow  politicians  in 
the  cause  of  the  negro,  and  sent  copies  by  the  hundred  to  the 
central  municipal  assembly  of  addresses  of  the  Societe  des  Amis 
des  Noirs.  These  addresses  were  apparently  favorably  received, 
but  when  he  attempted  to  bring  the  cause  before  his  district, 
his  constituents  told  him  plainly  that  his  advocacy  of  the  anti- 
slave  trade  propaganda  was  untimely,  refused  to  support  his 

'  Reflexions  sur  Vetat  de  la  sociSiS  des  Slecteurs  patriotes  sur  ses  travaux,  sut 
les  formes  propres  a  faire  de  bonnes  Slections,  —  Itds  a  Vassemblee  de  cette  sociStS, 
dans  la  seance  du  21  dicembre,  1790,  par  J.  P.  Brissot,  electeur,  Paris,  25  dScem- 
hre,  1790. 

^  Lettre  &  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  sur  ses  Reflexions  imporfanfes  relatives  aux 
Slecteurs  futurs  des  municipalitSs  contenus  dans  le  supplement  du  No.  CLXIV 
de  son  Journal  intitulS  Le  Patriote  Frangais,  par  Verney,  avocat  Lyon,  January 
30,  1790. 


106  BRISSGT  DE  WARVILLE 

measures  in  favor  of  the  negro,  and  expressed  their  strongest 
disapproval  of  any  steps  which  might  interfere  with  colonial 
commerce.^  Meanwhile,  he  was  sharply  criticized  by  the  press 
for  dragging  such  a  topic  into  the  discussion,  while  the  real 
business  of  the  municipality,  the  formation  of  a  permanent 
government,  was  still  unfinished.^ 

Brissot's  main  work,  however,  in  the  new  city  government, 
that  in  connection  with  which  he  was  best  known  and  most 
severely  criticized,  was  as  a  member  of  the  Comite  des  Re- 
cherches.  This  committee  was  organized  October  22,  1789,  and 
the  same  day  Brissot  was  chosen  a  member.  Its  functions  — 
"  to  receive  denunciations  and  depositions  of  intrigues,  plots, 
and  conspiracies,  in  case  of  necessity  to  keep  under  surveillance 
the  persons  denounced,  to  examine  them,  to  collect  proof  "  ^  — 
were  not  unlike  those  of  the  governmental  police  under  the  old 
regime.  The  very  nature  of  such  functions,  involving  of  neces- 
sity a  certain  amount  of  secrecy  and  arbitrary  action,  was 
sufficient  to  bring  the  committee  into  disfavor  and  to  arouse 
bitter  criticism.^  They  had  to  meet  the  impossible  problem 
of  reconciling  the  methods  of  a  special  tribunal  with  the  new 
democratic  ideas  of  liberty  and  equality.  But  to  stand  for  law 
and  order,  and  at  the  same  time  to  show  their  abhorrence  of 
the  old  regime  and  all  its  works,  was  a  matter  of  some  dif- 
ficulty. For  example,  it  was  apparently  their  business  to  in- 
vestigate the  disorder  of  the  5th  and  6th  of  October  at  Versailles 
and  punish  the  authors  of  it;  but  they  were  obviously  afraid  to 

1  Lacroix,  iii,  366,  370,  note  2;  iv,  100;  also  Extrait  dcs  registres  des  dSlibSra- 
tions  du  district  des  Filles-Saint-Thomas.  Supplement  au  proces-verbal  de 
VassemhUe  nationale.  Colonies,  i;  Traite  des  Negres,  ii. 

2  Les  Revolutions  de  Paris,  February  13-20,  1790. 
s  Lacroix,  ii,  376-77. 

*  A  report  of  the  work  of  the  committee,  made  November  30,  1789,  only 
a  little  more  than  a  month  after  its  formation,  will  serve  to  indicate  the  kind 
of  work  in  which  it  was  engaged.  "The  committee,"  says  the  report,  "finds 
three  kinds  of  plots  to  deal  with:  (a)  those  attributed  to  the  aristocratic 
party;  (6)  such  abnormal  excesses  as  those  committed  in  the  Chateau  of  Ver- 
sailles; (c)  schemes  for  frightening  the  people,  —  such  as  incendiary  motions 
and  seditious  writings."  Lacroix,  in,  76-81. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  107 

do  so  lest  they  might  be  thought  to  be  on  the  side  of  royalty 
against  the  people.  They  had  no  such  scruples,  however,  about 
attacking  representatives  of  the  old  regime,  no  matter  what 
their  rank  or  oflficial  position. 

The  prominence  of  the  persons  thus  accused  made  the  com- 
mittee and  its  methods  very  conspicuous.  It  was  a  situation  of 
which  the  royalist  newspapers  were  not  slow  to  take  advantage. 
They  defended  the  victims  of  the  committee  and  assailed  its 
principles.  "You  may  pride  yourselves,"  they  said,  "on  your 
democratic  principles;  you  may  put  these  principles  into  prac- 
tice by  attacking  representatives  of  royalty,  but  in  spite  of 
your  pretensions,  you  yourselves  are  using  power  nothing  short 
of  despotic;  and,  while  bringing  accusations  against  the  old 
regime,  you  are  employing  its  very  methods."  On  account  of 
his  reputation  as  an  opponent  of  despotism,  Brissot  was  the 
most  conspicuously  inconsistent  member  of  the  committee  and 
was  accordingly  singled  out  for  special  attack.  "We  know 
very  well,"  declared  the  Ades  des  Apotres,  "that  no  Comite 
des  Recherches  has  the  right  to  hold  citizens  accountable  for 
their  ideas  or  for  their  opinions;  that  Comites  des  Recherches 
and  municipalities  are  not  tribunals  instructed  to  judge  such 
matters;  that  there  is  no  law  in  existence  against  the  liberty  of 
the  press.  We  know  all  this,  and  if  we  did  not  know  it  M.  Bris- 
sot de  Warv-ille,  the  president  of  the  Comite  des  Recherches, 
would  tell  us."  Nor  was  such  criticism  confined  to  the  royalist 
journals.  So  advanced  a  paper  as  the  Revolutions  de  Paris  also 
called  Brissot  to  account.  "A  longer  exercise  of  power,"  it 
declared,  "might  become  fatal  to  the  virtues  of  that  com- 
mittee. The  decemvirs  oppressed  no  one  at  the  beginning  of 
their  magistracy;  it  was  only  as  they  became  familiar  with  the 
power  with  which  they  w^ere  clothed  that  they  became  tyrants. 
...  It  is  time  that  they  abdicated.  The  spirit  of  the  inquisition 
seems  to  have  already  destroyed  the  good  principles  of  that 
member  of  the  committee  w^ho,  a  martyr  of  liberty  under  the 
ministerial  regime,  we  thought,  was  going  to  be  its  defender 
under  the  coming  new  regime.   'Some  authors  of  incendiary 


108  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

writings  have  been  arrested,'  says  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  in  his 
paper  of  November  8.  .  .  .  Before  going  further  we  ask  M. 
Brissot  de  Warville,  the  journalist,  by  what  rule  M.  Brissot 
de  Warville,  the  member  of  the  Comite  des  Recherches,  decides 
whether  a  certain  piece  of  writing  is  incendiary  or  whether  it 
is  not."  1 

These  general  charges  received  a  special  and  damaging  ap- 
plication in  the  affair  of  MM.  Dhosier  and  Petit-Jean.  The 
case  itself  was  of  little  moment,  but  it  was  important  in  the 
accusations  to  which  it  gave  rise,  and  because  it  provoked  a 
defense  of  the  committee  of  which  Brissot  was  the  author.  ^ 
MM.  Dhosier  and  Petit-Jean  were  two  men  who  had  appeared 
at  the  Chateau  of  Saint-Cloud,  June  29, 1790,  and  aroused  sus- 
picion by  their  peculiar  actions.  On  being  questioned,  they  pro- 
duced a  paper  purporting  to  contain  directions  from  the  Virgin 
Mary  to  the  king,  which  they  declared  was  given  to  them  by 
Madame  Thomassin,  who,  while  in  a  state  of  somnambulism, 
had  received  it  directly  from  the  Holy  Virgin.  This  paper, 
which  at  first  sight  appeared  to  be  the  production  of  some  weak- 
minded  individuals,  seemed  to  the  authorities  to  contain  evi- 
dences of  a  conspiracy.  Madame  Thomassin  and  her  friend 
Madame  Jurailhac  were  accordingly  arrested,  and  after  ex- 
amination the  committee  reported  to  the  effect  that  although 
there  were  suspicious  circumstances,  the  affair  was  not  worth 
investigation.^ 

This  report  was  taken  up  by  Stanislas  Clermont,*  who  made 
it  the  basis  of  an  attack  on  the  Comite  des  Recherches.  He  ac- 
cused the  committee  of  the  following  offenses :  ^  they  arrested 
Madame  Jumilhac  on  insufficient  evidence;  they  did  not  make 
any  effort  to  obtain  the  corpus  delicti ;  they  used  an  unneces- 

*  Les  involutions  de  Paris,  November  8-14,  1789. 

2  Brissot,  Rapport  dans  V  affaire  de  MM.  Dhosier  et  Petit-Jean  .  .  .le  29 
juillet,  1790. 

'  Brissot  ...  a  Stanislas  Clermont,  39. 

*  Stanislas  Clermont  was  a  leader  of  the  liberal  nobility. 

^  Reflexions  sur  V  outrage  intitule  :  "  Pro  jet  de  contre-rivolution  par  les  sorn- 
nambulists  on  rapports  dans  Vaffaire  de  MM.  Dhosier  et  Petit-Jean,"  aoM,  1790. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  109 

sary  display  of  force  in  order  to  arrest  her;  they  did  not  con- 
front her  with  the  accuser;  they  neither  acquitted  nor  con- 
demned her.  The  committee,  in  short,  was  a  tribunal  which 
considered  itself  above  law,  arresting,  imprisoning,  punishing, 
according  to  its  will  —  a  veritable  inquisition.  To  these  ac- 
cusations Brissot  made  a  formal  reply  ^  to  this  effect :  that  the 
paper  in  question  was  of  a  treasonable  nature,  and  that  there 
was,  therefore,  due  reason  for  Madame  Jumilhac's  arrest;  that 
the  order  for  her  arrest  came  from  the  Comite  des  Recherches 
of  the  National  Assembly;  that  the  high  rank  of  Madame 
Jumilhac  afforded  no  ground  for  treating  her  with  more  con- 
sideration than  other  people;  that  a  large  force  was  necessary 
in  arresting  her  to  prevent  opposition  by  her  friends  and  serv- 
ants; that  the  verdict  was  necessary  from  the  circumstances  of 
the  case.  The  general  charge  that  the  committee  was  an  in- 
quisitorial body,  Brissot  denied  most  emphatically.  This  tri- 
bunal was  not  an  inquisition,  he  declared,  for  it  was  not  secret; 
the  same  proofs  were  required  as  in  ordinary  tribunals;  the 
prisoners  were  not  refused  permission  to  see  their  friends,  and 
were  not  kept  in  solitary  confinement.  Surely  such  a  committee 
was  necessary  in  time  of  crisis.  Very  much  the  same  accusa- 
tions had  been  made  by  the  Chevalier  de  Pange,  in  answer  to 
whom  Brissot  had  already  made  a  formal  defense  of  the  com- 
mittee, in  which  he  declared  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
delation  under  a  free  government. ^  To  the  accusation  that  the 
committee  was  simply  the  old  police  under  a  changed  name,  he 
answered  that  although  it  might  have  the  same  powers,  it  was 
like  the  old  police  neither  in  function  nor  in  spirit.  It  did  not 
work  in  secret  nor  pronounce  sentence,  but  merely  sent  the 
accused  to  the  proper  tribunal;  further,  its  object  was  not, 
as  with  the  old  police,  "  to  support  despotism,  but  to  defend  the 
temple  of  liberty."  WTiile  Brissot  was  undoubtedly  justified 
on  account  of  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  the  time  in 

^  J.  P.  Brissot  .   .   .  a  Stanislas  Clermont,  and  Replique  a  Stanislas  Cler- 
mont. 

2  Lettre  de  Brissot  a  M.  le  Chevalier  de  Pange,  1790. 


110  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

making  these  distinctions,  he  showed  a  perverse  tendency  to 
exaggerate  the  importance  of  a  change  of  motive,  especially 
in  his  assertion  that  a  committee  of  inquiry  might  justly  use  the 
machinery  of  despotism  provided  it  were  done  in  the  interests 
of  liberty. 

The  real  justification  for  such  a  committee  was  in  the  neces- 
sities of  the  time.  As  early  as  October,  1790,  when  conditions 
seemed  to  have  become  more  normal,  the  question  of  its  dis- 
solution was  discussed  and  the  motion  for  its  continuance 
passed  by  a  very  small  majority.^  Brissot  himseK  shortly  after- 
ward withdrew  from  the  committee. ^  A  year  later,  the  com- 
mittee as  a  whole  resigned,  on  the  ground  that  "the  Revolu- 
tion was  ended  and  the  reign  of  law  established."  ' 

Meanwhile  Brissot  had  aroused  opposition  of  another  kind, 
on  account  of  his  principles  regarding  the  distribution  of  au- 
thority in  the  city  government.  The  form  of  government  which 
went  into  effect  in  September,  1789,  was,  after  all,  only  provi- 
sional, and  the  city  council  still  had,,  as  its  chief  work,  the 
formation  of  a  permanent  organization.  The  main  issue  was, 
as  before,  the  balance  of  power  between  the  central  council 
and  the  districts.  Brissot  continued  to  support  the  central  coun- 
cil, and  thereby  came  into  renewed  conflict  with  the  districts. 
The  30th  of  November,  1789,  he  made  a  motion  in  the  city 
council  that  they  should  ask  the  National  Assembly  to  au- 
thorize its  constitutional  committee  to  consult  with  the  com- 
mittee chosen  by  the  city  council  for  the  purpose  of  presenting 
a  plan  of  organization  for  Paris.  In  this  motion  Brissot  ap- 
peared to  be  desirous  of  confining  all  collaboration  in  the  matter 
to  a  committee  of  the  council  to  the  exclusion  of  the  council 
itself,  not  to  mention  the  districts.''  Such  a  proposition  was 
naturally  opposed  by  large  numbers  of  the  council,  while  nu- 
merous representatives  of  the  districts  appeared  to  express  their 
vehement  disapproval,  and  after  much  discussion  it  was  voted 

*  Lacroix,  Ades  de  la  Commune,  2d  series,  i,  125. 

2  Robiquet,  Le  personnel  municipal  de  Paris,  441.       *  Ibid.,  465. 

*  Lacroix,  Actes  de  la  Commune,  in,  82,  89-90. 


A  MUNICIPAL  POLITICIAN  111 

down.  The  affair  seems  to  have  provoked  great  excitement. 
Brissot  was  called  to  account  for  not  having  given  a  correct 
report  of  it  in  the  Patriote  Frangais,  whereupon  he  promised 
to  set  the  matter  right  and  at  the  same  time  protested  that 
he  had  not  intended  to  deprive  the  districts  of  all  voice  in  the 
matter.^  But  the  districts  were  not  to  be  convinced.  He  soon 
stirred  up  the  enmity  of  his  own  district  by  an  unwise  advocacy 
of  his  propaganda  against  the  slave  trade. ^  Furthermore,  in  the 
matter  of  the  administration  of  the  sale  of  ecclesiastical  lands, 
he  aroused  not  only  his  own,  but  all  the  districts.  The  man- 
agement of  these  sales  was  claimed  by  the  districts,  —  a  de- 
mand which  Brissot  opposed  on  the  ground  that  the  districts 
were  not  administrative  bodies.  The  management  belonged 
therefore  not  to  them  but  to  the  bureau  de  ville,  the  adminis- 
trative branch  of  the  general  city  government. ^  The  districts 
had  their  revenge  when,  in  the  establishment  of  the  permanent 
municipal  government,  in  October,  1790,  they  refused  to  elect 
Brissot  to  the  municipal  council  or  to  any  other  office.  His 
active  part  in  the  municipal  politics  of  Paris  thus  came  to  an 
end. 

In  view  of  his  later  mortal  combat  with  the  municipal  gov- 
ernment of  Paris,  his  early  connection  with  it  is  of  special  inter- 
est. In  view,  also,  of  the  ground  of  that  combat,  —  the  strife 
between  the  provinces  and  Paris,  —  his  early  insistence  on  the 
importance  of  Paris  is  noteworthy.  Because  it  was  so  impor- 
tant he  argued  it  must  have  a  special  form  of  government.  But 
also  because  of  its  importance  it  must  recognize  its  duties.  For 
this  reason  —  because  it  was  the  foremost  city  —  he  had  in- 
sisted that  it  ought  not  to  state  its  own  grievances  till  the 
general  grievances  were  adjusted,  that  it  ought  not  to  lessen 
its  own  burdens  by  floating  the  notes  of  the  caisse  d'escompte 
on  the  country  at  large;  and  on  the  other  hand  that  it  should 

^  Lacroix,  Ades  de  la  Commune,  iii,  124;  and  Les  Revolutions  de  Paris, 
November  28  to  December  5,  1789. 

2  See  p.  197. 

*  Motion  sur  la  necessiti  de  circonscrire  la  vente  des  biens  ecclesiastiques  aux 
municipalitSs,  May,  1790. 


112  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

set  a  good  example  to  France  by  a  disinterested  policy  in  the 
matter  of  church  lands.  In  short,  Paris  must  take  her  place 
as  the  first  city  of  France. 

While  remaining  true  to  his  ideals  of  equality  and  govern- 
ment by  the  people,  he  found  it  necessary  to  modify  them  some- 
what in  practical  politics;  for  example,  in  limiting  the  power 
of  the  districts  and  in  the  case  of  the  Coraite  des  Recherches, 
while  continuing  to  preach  liberty  he  had  not  hesitated  to  use 
despotic  power  to  preserve  it.  If  his  interests  subsequently 
changed,  and  if  from  being  an  enthusiastic  representative  of 
the  municipality  of  Paris  he  became  one  of  its  most  bitter 
foes,  his  fundamental  policy  did  not  change,  and  in  his  future 
work  as  a  legislator  in  helping  to  transform  France  the  lim- 
ited monarchy  into  France  the  republic,  he  showed  the  same 
ideals  and  the  same  policy  that  he  had  shown  in  his  work  as 
a  municipal  politician  in  changing  Paris  of  the  old  regime  into 
Paris  the  modern  city. 


"* 


CHAPTER  VI 

brissot's  career  during  the  constituent  assembly 
as  a  journalist  —  le  patriote  fran^ais 

Part  I 

His  Struggles  to  Establish  a  Newspaper  and  his  Attitude  on  Legislation 

Brissot  had  failed  to  be  elected  to  the  Constituent  Assem- 
bly/ but  he  was  none  the  less  to  exert  an  important  influence 
during  its  session,  not  only  as  a  municipal  politician,  but  to  a 
greater  degree  as  the  editor  of  one  of  the  chief  newspapers  of 
the  period,  —  the  Patriote  Frangais.  In  starting  this  journal 
Brissot  was  a  pioneer  in  two  respects.  In  the  first  place  he 
established  one  of  the  first  real  newspapers  in  anything  like 
the  modern  sense  of  the  term.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  French 
Revolution  such  periodic  publications  as  existed  were  more 
like  series  of  essays  or  pamphlets,  "periodic  books"  —  to  use 
Brissot's  own  phrase.  In  the  production  of  this  kind  of  litera- 
ture Brissot  himself  had  had  some  experience  in  his  work  on 
the  Annales  of  Linguet  and  the  Courtier  of  Swinton  and  in 
his  own  Correspondance  Universelle.  The  French  Revolution 
now  brought  about  a  great  and  sudden  change.  It  converted 
the  pamphlet  into  the  regular  newspaper,  and  led  to  the  found- 
ing of  a  large  number  of  daily  journals  of  every  shade  of  opinion 
and  of  every  degree  of  excellence.  Of  these  new  journals  Bris- 
sot's Patriote  Frangais  was  practically  the  first.  In  the  second 
place  he  took  the  lead  in  a  valiant  struggle  against  the  censor- 
ship of  the  press,^  —  a  struggle  which  brings  into  high  relief 
a  picture  of  the  gradual  crumbling  of  the  old  regime  and  the 
slow  and  painful  building  up  of  the  new. 

1  The  name  afterwards  given  to  the  body  summoned  as  the  States-General. 

2  Note  also  the  part  taken  by  Mirabeau  in  this  struggle  in  his  attempt  to 
establish  his  newspaper,  the  Etats-GSnSratix. 


114  BRISSOT  deWARVILLE 

It  was  a  courageous  attempt  that  he  made,  in  view  both  of 
his  own  unfortunate  encounters  with  government  repression 
and  of  the  existing  restrictions  on  the  press.  On  March  16, 
1789,  he  issued  his  first  prospectus,  in  which,  after  portraying 
the  advantages  of  the  newspaper  over  the  pamphlet,  he  stated 
his  intention  of  founding  a  newspaper  which  should  further 
revolution  in  France,  just  as  the  newspaper  had  furthered 
revolution  in  America.  He  declared,  moreover,  in  unmistak- 
able terms  that  he  proposed  to  make  that  newspaper  not  only 
truly  national  and  free,  but  also  independent  of  the  censorship 
and  of  every  kind  of  influence.  As  to  the  details  of  the  publica- 
tion, he  stated  that  the  paper  would  appear  about  the  first  of 
April  and  that  the  price  of  subscription  would  be  24  livres  a 
year.^  A  few  days  later  he  published  a  second  prospectus,  in 
which  he  announced  that  the  paper  would  be  published  four 
times  a  week  instead  of  twice,  as  at  first  stated;  that  subscrip- 
tions might  be  left  with  the  bookseller,  Buisson,  and  that  the 
first  number  would  appear  about  April  20. 

This  seemed  to  the  authorities  "the  last  degree  of  audacity," 
and  they  immediately  took  steps  to  show  Brissot  that  he  had 
made  a  serious  mistake  in  assuming  that  any  such  ideas  could 
be  carried  out.  The  lieutenant  of  the  police  and  the  director- 
general  of  the  book  trade  first  warned  the  authorized  journals 
to  make  no  announcement  of  the  prospectus  in  question.  They 
then  dispatched  a  circular  letter  to  the  inspectors  of  the  book 
trade,  urging  them  to  take  all  measures  within  their  power  to 
stop  the  circulation  of  the  prospectus  and  the  printing  and  dis- 
tribution of  the  journal.2  These  measures  were  effective  at 
least  in  frightening  Buisson  who,  it  had  been  announced,  was 
to  receive  the  subscriptions,  for  he  promptly  disavowed  his 
connection  with  Brissot's  newspaper  and  declared  that  his 
name  had  been  used  without  his  consent.^    He  seems  subse- 

^  See  the  prospectus  as  quoted  in  Tourneux,  Bibliographie  de  Vhistoire  de 
Paris  'pendant  la  RSvohdion  frangaise,  ii,  500. 

2  Lettre  de  Maissemy,  Archives  nationales,  v^  551. 

'  This  claim  appears  to  be  true,  for,  in  his  protest  to  Maissemy,  of  April  13 
{Archives  nationales,  v^  551),  he,  Buisson,  incloses  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  reads 


A  JOURNALIST  115 

quently  to  have  recovered  from  his  fright,  for  when  the  paper 
began  to  appear  regularly,  it  was  at  his  shop  that  subscrip- 
tions were  received.^ 

Brissot  himself  was  not  at  all  daunted,  and  on  the  6th  of 
May  he  boldly  pubhshed  the  first  number  of  the  Patriote  Fran- 
gais.  It  appeared  as  a  tiny  sheet  of  eight  duodecimo  pages  and 
consisted  of  two  parts :  an  account  of  the  opening  of  the  States- 
General  at  Versailles,  and  a  discussion  of  the  cahier  of  the  third 
estate  of  Paris,  in  which  the  public  was  urged  not  to  be  dis- 
couraged in  spite  of  the  attitude  of  the  king  and  Necker  to- 
ward the  third  estate.  Meanwhile  Brissot's  cause  was  becoming 
a  general  one.  Other  newspapers  were  being  established  and 
the  authorities  thus  had  to  contend  with  a  rapidly  rising  tide 
of  opposition  to  their  power.  To  meet  it,  they  re-inforced  the 
circular  to  the  inspectors  of  the  book  trade,  which  was  directed 
especially  against  Brissot,  by  a  general  decree  of  the  royal  coun- 
cil which  forbade  the  unauthorized  announcement  for  distribu- 
tion of  any  new  newspaper  whatever.  ^ 

This  decree  Brissot  could  not  ignore,  as  he  had  the  pre\aous 
orders.  To  continue  the  publication  of  his  paper  was  for  the 
moment  clearly  impossible,  and  he  reluctantly  addressed  a  letter 
to  his  subscribers,  informing  them  that  the  publication  of  the 
Patriote  Franqais  was  stopped.  But,  he  assured  them,  the  sus- 
pension would  be  but  temporary;  he  was  preparing  a  memoir  to 
the  States-General  on  the  subject,  and  the  first  thing  the  States- 
General  would  do,  as  soon  as  it  was  organized,  would  doubtless 
be  to  establish  freedom  of  the  press.   In  this  memoir  he  made 

in  part:  "Ci-joint  M[ons{eur]  le  prospectus  d'un  J[ourn]al  siir  lequel  fai  cru 
devoir  imprimer  voire  nam.  pour  recevoir  les  subscriptions  et  que  je  vaisfaire  dis- 
tribuer.  Je  ne  pense  pas  qu'il  puisse  eprouver  aueune  difficulte  puisque'en  y 
destinant  moi  meme  mon  nom,  je  me  rends  responsable  de  tout  ce  qui  sera  im- 
primS  dans  ce  journal." 

^  They  soon  came  to  a  break,  however.  For  the  dissolution  of  their  con- 
nection, see  Archives  nationales.  v^  553;  also  the  Patriote  Frangais,  September 
14,  1789.  Avis  important  de  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  aux  souscripteurs  de  ce 
journal. 

2  Quoted  in  Tourneux,  Bibliographie,  ii,  502.  See  also  Lettre  aux  souscrip- 
teurs. May  12,  1789. 


116  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

an  ardent  plea  for  such  freedom.  There  could  be  no  free  con- 
stitution without  it,  he  declared.  Moreover,  it  was  a  natural 
right  necessary  for  the  States-General  and  necessary  for  the 
government.  To  be  effective  it  must  be  given  freely  and  fully, 
and  all  newspapers  ought  to  be  allowed  to  be  sent  by  post  with- 
out any  previous  permission.  In  giving  such  freedom  there 
was  no  occasion  to  fear  its  abuse,  for  too  great  license  could  be 
prevented  by  special  laws.  Their  execution,  moreover,  should 
be  intrusted  to  independent  tribunals  and  not  left  to  arbitrary 
rules  of  the  ministers.  Finally,  in  view  of  these  principles,  he 
demanded  freedom  to  publish  the  Patriate  Frangais.^  Although 
he  did  not  receive  a  formal  decision  from  the  States-General 
in  his  favor,  2  the  events  of  July  established  freedom  of  the 
press  de  facto,  and  without  waiting  for  its  establishment  de 
jure,  on  July  28  he  again  started  his  newspaper,  and  issued 
the  second  number,  the  first  of  the  uninterrupted  series.^  Thus 
was  established  the  Patriate  Frangais,  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant newspapers  of  the  period  of  the  French  Revolution.  It  was 
true  to  the  motto  printed  at  the  head  of  each  number:  "A  free 
newspaper  is  a  sentinel  who  always  stands  on  guard  for  the 
people."  Indeed,  to  quote  the  ardent  republican,  Manuel,  it 
"was  the  first  sentinel  who  cried  Constitution,  Truth,  Liberty."  ^ 
Of  liberty  in  all  its  forms  the  Patriate  Frangais  was  con- 
sistently the  champion.  Throughout  the  session  of  the  Con- 
stituent Assembly  it  opposed  those  who  would  emphasize  the 
constitution  at  the  expense  of  the  declaration  of  rights,  and 
maintained  that  the  declaration  of  rights  was,  on  the  contrary, 
the  ideal  to  which  the  constitution  ought  to  conform.   Under 

^  Memoire  aux  Etats-GenSraux,  June,  1789. 

*  On  May  19,  Maissemy,  the  director-general  of  the  book  trade,  made  what 
was  virtually  a  confession  of  complete  defeat  on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  by 
issuing  an  order  which  permitted  newspapers  to  publish  the  proceedings  of  the 
Assembly  but  forbade  them  to  make  any  commentary  or  reflections.  Avenel, 
Histoire  de  la  presse  frangaise,  48. 

*  The  delay  was  probably  due  in  part  to  the  active  r61e  Mhich  he  had  played 
in  the  election  of  representatives  of  the  third  estate  in  Paris.  Tourneux,  II, 
503.    See  also  p.  94. 

*  Quoted  in  Hatin,  Bibliographic  de  la  presse  pSriodique,  142. 


A  JOURNALIST  117 

the  Legislative  Assembly  and  the  Convention  it  became  the 
leading  organ  of  the  Girondins  in  opposition  to  the  Mountain, 
and  finally  came  to  an  end  with  the  fall  of  the  Girondins,  It 
was  at  the  same  time  "the  scourge  of  the  court  and  the  terror 
of  the  terrorists."  ^ 

In  its  form  and  content  the  Patriote  Frangais  compared  fa- 
vorably with  the  best  newspapers  of  the  time.  Despite  the 
legal  difficulties  encountered  and  despite  numerous  other  hin- 
drances then  incident  to  the  publishing  of  a  first-class  journal, 
Brissot  not  only  managed  to  continue  his  newspaper  without 
interruption  but  to  make  some  improvements  in  his  original 
plan.  Instead  of  appearing  only  four  times  a  week  as  was  an- 
nounced in  the  original  prospectus,  it  was  published  every  day 
but  Sunday,  and  from  November  1,  1789,  on  Sundays  also; 
and  instead  of  a  duodecimo  sheet,  it  came  out  as  a  large  quarto 
of  four  pages  to  which  supplements  were  frequently  added.'' 
From  the  first  it  paid  particular  attention  to  the  National  As- 
sembly, and  while  not  attempting  to  give  verbatim  reports,  de- 
voted much  space  to  comments  and  observations  upon  its  pro- 
ceedings. Even  this  did  not  satisfy  some  of  Brissot's  readers 
and  he  was  reproached  for  not  giving  more  details.  In  reply  he 
urged  the  wide  scope  of  his  journal  as  an  excuse  and  complained 
that  it  was  unfair  to  compare  his  newspaper,  "which  embraced 
all  that  patriotism  embraced,"  with  the  Moniteur  which  made 
the  reports  of  the  debates  its  almost  exclusive  business.  His  aim 
certainly  was  extensive.  He  proposed,  according  to  both  his 
announcements,  to  do  five  things:  (1)  to  set  forth  facts  faith- 
fully; (2)  to  reproduce  all  the  publications  of  the  government 
and  to  outline  the  debates  of  the  States-General;  (3)  to  register 
the  transactions  of  the  provincial  assemblies;  (4)  to  discuss 
current  questions,  and  (5)  to  review  political  pamphlets.  In 
his  second  prospectus  he  announced  further  that  he  would  in- 
clude in  his  newspaper  the  results  of  his  researches  on  the  con- 
stitutions of  England  and  of  the  United  States.  After  the  first 

1  Hatin,  Bibliographie  de  la  presse  periodique,  143. 
*  January  1,  1791,  the  size  was  enlarged. 


118  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

few  months  he  was  able  to  carry  out  fairly  well  this  extensive 
plan,  and  about  the  first  of  February,  1791,  he  made  still  further 
improvements,  and  included  regularly  a  column  on  the  money 
market  and  a  list  of  the  current  plays.  Besides  its  extensive 
reports  of  the  proceedings  of  the  National  Assembly,  the  Pa- 
triote  Frangais  paid  much  attention  to  the  municipal  affairs 
of  Paris.  This  was  particularly  true  during  the  period  of  Bris- 
sot's  career  as  a  municipal  politician,  when  the  concerns  of  the 
city  government  naturally  occupied  a  large  share  of  his  inter- 
est. A  special  column  was  devoted  to  Paris;  the  proceedings  of 
the  municipal  assemblies  were  reported  and  the  policy  of  the 
city  government  defended,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  Comite 
des  Recherches.  But  the  Patriote  Frangais  by  no  means  con- 
fined its  attention  to  Paris.  It  also  took  a  keen  interest  in  the 
course  of  the  Revolution  in  the  provinces  and  followed  the 
development  of  local  government  throughout  France.  In  these 
particulars  it  was  not  so  different  from  some  of  the  other  jour- 
nals, but  in  the  amount  of  attention  it  paid  to  the  cause  of  the 
negro  and  to  American  affairs  it  stands  alone.  It  was  in  fact 
the  organ  of  the  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs,  publishing  its  ad- 
dresses, defending  its  policy,  and  attacking  its  opponents.  As 
for  his  interest  in  the  new  world  Brissot  had  already  pointed 
out  in  his  prospectus  that  the  Patriote  Frangais  was  to  be  the 
means  for  spreading  abroad  information  about  America  and 
for  impressing  upon  the  public  the  ideas  that  he  had  gained 
from  his  own  experience.  Hardly  a  number  appeared  in  which 
he  did  not  make  some  reference  to  the  United  States.  He 
covered  the  whole  range  of  the  subject,  from  an  advertisement 
by  a  man  who  was  looking  for  a  partner  in  his  Kentucky  lands 
to  a  discussion  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  American 
constitution.  In  everything  connected  with  the  establishment 
of  the  new  government  of  the  United  States  he  was  especially 
interested.  He  approved  of  Washington's  cabinet  appoint- 
ments,^ printed  a  copy  of  his  first  Thanksgiving  proclamation,^ 
and  reviewed  the  proceedings  of  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  Yet 
I  Patriote  Frangais,  November  26,  1789.  ^  Ibid.,  January  18,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  119 

it  was  not  as  a  matter  of  merely  abstract  interest  that  Brissot 
referred  so  frequently  to  America;  it  was  rather  that  its  recent 
history  might  serve  as  a  precedent  to  France.  He  praised  the 
democratic  spirit  of  the  United  States  in  proscribing  all  titles 
of  nobihty;  he  commended  their  tolerance  for  establishing  free- 
dom of  religion  ;i  when  plans  for  the  municipal  government 
of  Paris  were  under  discussion,  he  argued,  from  the  separation 
of  national,  state,  and  city  affairs  in  the  United  States,  that 
the  drawing  up  of  the  plan  belonged  not  to  the  National  As- 
sembly, but  to  the  city  itself;  and  when,  at  the  opening  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  the  question  was  raised  whether  they 
should  have  few  or  many  committees,  he  made  use  of  the 
example  of  the  American  Congress  as  a  weighty  argument  in 
favor  of  having  as  few  as  possible.  ^ 

This  wide  range  of  contents  appealed  to  a  variety  of  readers, 
and  the  Patriote  Frangais  became  very  popular.  Its  style  was 
perhaps  not  equal  in  merit  to  its  contents.  Like  his  other  works 
it  showed  a  lack  of  a  sense  of  humor  and  of  a  light  touch;  but 
if  wanting  in  the  wit  and  brilliancy  of  Desmoulins's  Revolu- 
tions de  France  et  de  Brabmit  or  the  virility  of  Prudhorame's 
Revolutions  de  Paris  it  was  a  decided  improvement  on  Brissot's 
earlier  writings,  both  in  force  and  vigor.  He  was  obliged,  how- 
ever, to  defend  himself  against  the  charge  of  too  great  serious- 
ness. "People  have  said  to  me,"  he  wrote,  "that  I  was  too 
serious;  they  want  me  to  make  fun,  to  chaff  and  to  draw  cari- 
catures. That  role  does  not  suit  me;  one  must  be  himself,  and 
if  the  French  people  fall  again  into  the  taste  for  political  and 
literary  buffooneries,  a  writer  whose  only  desire  is  to  be  useful, 
ought  never  to  lend  himself  to  such  things."  '  Brissot  might 
indeed  be  charged  with  a  lack  of  humor,  but  he  certainly  could 
not  be  accused  of  the  scurrility  and  personal  invective  which 
marked  the  Pere  Duchesne  and  the  Ajni  du  Peuple.  Whatever 
the  Patriote  Frangais  was  or  was  not,  it  never,  at  least,  lacked 

*  Patriote  Franqais,  May  7,  1790. 

2  Discours  sur  V organisation  des  comiies,  October,  1791.  See  p.  226. 

*  Patriate  Frangais,  April  9,  1790. 


120  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

in  dignity.  Its  radical  stand  naturally  brought  it  into  conflict 
with  the  conservative  press,  but  although  it  had  numerous 
sharp  controversies  with  royalist  and  moderate  journals,  when 
it  concerned  personalities,  it  was  generally  inclined  to  limit 
itself  to  the  defensive.  In  matters  of  general  policy  it  could 
count  on  the  invariable  support  of  the  Courrier  des  Departe- 
ments  and  the  Chronique  de  Paris  and  the  invariable  hostility 
of  the  Ades  des  Apotres,  the  Journal  de  Paris,  the  Journal  ge- 
neral de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville,  and  later  of  the  Ami  du  Peuple; 
while  the  Revolutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant  and  the  Revolu- 
tions de  Paris  approved  and  criticized  in  turn.  His  most  seri- 
ous conflicts  arose  from  his  zealous  attacks  on  despotism  and 
more  than  once  led  to  accusations  for  libel. 

Besides  carrying  on  the  Patriote  Franqais,  Brissot  was  one 
of  the  collaborators  of  the  Chronique  du  Mois.  This  publica- 
tion which  appeared  monthly  from  November,  1791,  to  July, 
1793,  was  not,  properly  speaking,  a  newspaper  at  all,  but  merely 
a  series  of  essays.^  It  was  founded,  so  the  prospectus  set  forth, 
to  further  the  public  good.  It  might  more  truly  have  been  said, 
to  further  the  interests  of  the  Girondin  party.  To  this  periodi- 
cal Brissot  made  a  number  of  contributions,  but  they  consisted 
chiefly  of  reproductions  of  articles  which  had  already  appeared 
elsewhere,  and  hence  do  not  add  materially  to  the  knowledge 
of  Brissot  as  journalist  or  politician. ^ 

*  La  Chronique  du  Mois  on  Les  Cahiers  patriotiques  de  E.  Claviere,  C.  Con- 
dorcet,  L.  Mercier,  A.  Auger,  J.  Oswald,  N.  Bonneville,  J.  Bidermann,  A.  Brous- 
sonet,  A.  Guy-Kersaint,  J.  P.  Brissot,  J.  Ph.  Garran  de  Coulon,  J.  Dussaulx, 
F.  Lanthenas,  et  Collot  d'Herhois,  November,  1791,  to  July,  1793. 

*  Each  number  was  headed  by  a  full-page  portrait  of  one  of  the  collaborators 
of  the  paper  or  of  some  man  prominent  in  public  affairs.  Brissot's  portrait  ap- 
pears in  the  number  for  July,  1792.  His  part,  advertised  to  consist  of  "some  of 
his  eloquent  speeches  upon  our  rights  which  he  knows  so  well  how  to  defend," 
was  made  up  of  nine  contributions  as  follows:  — 

(a)  Sur  les  reproches  qu  on  fait  d.  VAssemhlee  naiionale,  March,  1792. 
(6)  Sur  la  justice  de  la  guerre  contre  VAutriche,  May,  1792. 

(c)  Observations  sur  Helvetius,  July,  1792.  A  criticism  of  Helvetius'  theory 
—  that  all  passions  have  their  origin  in  the  physical  senses,  in  love  of  pleasure, 
or  in  aversion  to  pain  —  as  being  on  too  low  a  plane. 

(d)  Politics  de  Paul,  August,  1792.  An  extract  from  his  work:  Lettres  sur 
Saint  Paul. 


A  JOURNALIST  121 

In  carrying  on  his  own  paper  Brissot  was  in  turn  assisted  by 
numerous  collaborators:  by  Claviere,  with  whom  he  had  long 
been  on  terms  of  intimacy;  by  Gregoire,  his  fellow  worker  in 
the  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs;  by  Petion,  the  Mayor  of  Paris;  ^ 
Thomas  Paine,  the  Anglo-American;  and,  above  all,  by  the 
Rolands  and  a  little  group  of  friends  who  centered  around  them 
and  which  included  Blot,  the  friend  of  Brissot's  childhood,^ 
Lanthenas,^  Bosc,*  and  Bangal  des  Issarts.^  According  to  M. 
Perroud  something  over  one  hundred  contributions  to  the  Pa- 
triote  Frangais  may  be  attributed  to  members  of  this  group. 
Brissot's  acquaintance  with  the  Rolands  dated  from  the  pub- 
lication of  his  book  De  la  France  et  des  Etats  Unis.  In  this  work 
Brissot  frequently  quoted  from  Roland,  praised  his  learning 
and  courage,  and  when  the  book  was  published  sent  him  a 
copy.  There  resulted  a  lively  correspondence  between  Bris- 
sot and  the  Rolands.   Through  Bosc  and  Lanthenas,  whom 

(e)  Sur  les  motifs  de  ceux  qui  defendant  la  monarchie  et  qui  calomnaient  le 
republicanisme.   J.  P.  Brissot  a  N.  Bonneville,  October,  1792. 

(/)  A  tous  les  republicains  de  France  :  sur  le  Societe  des  Jacobins  de  Paris, 
1792,  already  published  in  pamphlet  form. 

(17)  De  la  marche  des  agitateurs,  January,  1793. 

(h)  Sur  le  terns  [sic],  March,  1793. 

(i)  De  quelques  erreurs  dans  les  idees  et  dans  les  mots  relatifs  a  la  revolution 
frangaise,  March,  1793. 

1  Petion  y  faisait  paraitre  les  lettres,  avis,  observations  quil  avail  a  publier 
comme  maire  de  Paris.   Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  lea  Girondins,  i,  240,  note. 

2  See  p.  7. 

'  Francois  Lanthenas,  a  physician  and  author  of  numerous  political  pam- 
phlets, was  born  in  1754  and  died  in  1799.  He  was  a  friend  of  the  Rolands,  and 
under  the  first  Roland  ministry  was  given  the  first  place  in  the  department  of 
public  instruction.  Although  arrested  with  the  Girondins  he  escaped  proscrip- 
tion and  was  elected  to  the  Council  of  500. 

*  Louis  Augustin  Guillaume  Bosc  was  a  French  naturalist,  born  in  1759  and 
died  in  1828.  He  was  a  friend  of  Madame  Roland  and  one  of  her  correspond- 
ents, and  under  the  Roland  ministry  became  director  of  the  post-office.  He 
remained  attached  to  Madame  Roland,  risked  his  life  by  visiting  her  in  prison, 
and  preserved  the  manuscript  of  her  memoirs.  He  escaped  the  guillotine  and 
under  the  Directory  was  sent  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  the  United  States. 

*  Jean  Henri  Banqal  des  Issarts  was  born  in  1750  and  died  in  1826.  He  rep- 
resented Auvergne  in  the  National  Assembly  and  founded  a  society  of  the 
Jacobins  at  Clermont.  Later,  he  became  a  friend  of  Madame  Roland  and  an 
avowed  republican  and  an  ally  of  the  Girondins. 


122  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Brissot  came  to  know  at  Paris,  he  was  brought  into  still  more 
friendly  relations  with  them  though  without  ever  having  seen 
them;  and  when  he  projected  his  newspaper,  he  found  his  new 
friends  ready  to  sympathize  with  his  plans  and  to  help  him  by 
their  correspondence.  They  lent  copies  of  the  Patriote  Fran- 
gais  to  their  friends,  tried  to  increase  its  circulation,  and  sent 
him  articles  for  publication  on  the  course  of  the  Revolution  at 
Lyons.  He  seems  to  have  been  especially  delighted  with  the 
contributions  of  Madame  Roland,  who  was,  he  declared,  "both 
well  informed  and  of  a  truly  strong  character."  He  even  ven- 
tured to  insert  in  his  newspaper  passages  from  her  letters  to 
Bosc  and  Lanthenas  which  had  been  passed  on  to  him;  ^  and 
when  at  a  later  period  she  criticized  him  for  not  being  sufl5ciently 
radical,  he  took  the  criticism  with  good  grace  and  attacked  the 
royalist  party  in  Lyons  with  more  vehemence. ^  While  the 
Rolands  were  writing  for  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  the  struggle 
in  Lyons  against  despotism,  Lanthenas  was  UTiting  against 
despotism  in  general,  his  chief  articles  being  on  the  freedom  of 
the  press  and  on  the  organization  of  popular  societies. ^  Bangal 
meanwhile  kept  the  Patriote  Frangais  informed  of  events  in 
Clermont.  In  turn,  Brissot  supported  the  interests  of  his 
friends  in  local  and  national  elections.^ 

The  Rolands  were  his  chief  correspondents,  but  the  financial 
support  for  his  journal  came  from  a  man  named  LePage,  to 
whom,  apparently,  he  left  much  of  the  business  management. 
LePage  is  said  to  have  made  money  out  of  it  for  himself,  but 
Brissot,  according  to  Madame  Roland,  instead  of  likewise 
profiting,  was  content  with  the  small  salary  allowed  him  by 
his  partner  and  came  out  of  the  enterprise  as  poor  as  when  he 

1  For  the  details  of  their  early  correspondence,  see  Perroud,  Lettres  de  Madame 
Roland,  ii,  55  and  note,  61, 6i  and  note,  77,  78,  95,  114;  MSmoires  de  Madame 
Roland,  i,  61,  191,  192,  and  Brissot  et  les  Roland,  Collaboration  des  Roland  au 
Patriate  Frangais,  in  La  Revolution  frangaise,  xxxiv,  403,  May,  1898. 

2  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  174,  175,  note. 

3  See,  for  example,  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  February  5,  14,  28,  1791. 

*  See  article  by  Perroud  in  La  Revolution  frangaise,  xxxiv,  403-22,  May, 
1898. 


A  JOURNALIST  123 

went  into  it.^  In  true  French  fashion  the  members  of  his  family- 
assisted  in  the  business,  his  mother-in-law  and  one  of  his  sisters- 
in-law  helping  in  the  oflSce.^  His  main  collaborator,  and  most 
of  the  time  his  partner,  was  Girey-Dupre,^  a  young  journalist 
of  Girondin  sympathies.  On  several  occasions  Brissot  turned 
over  to  Girey-Dupre  a  considerable  share  in  the  responsibility 
for  the  newspaper.  The  first  time  was  at  the  opening  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  when,  quite  overcome  by  the  responsi- 
bilities of  his  new  position  as  legislator,  he  announced  that  "in 
order  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  important  functions  to 
which  the  choice  of  his  fellow  citizens  called  him,"  he  would 
abandon  the  chief  editorship  to  his  colleague."*  But  it  was  not 
long  before  he  realized  the  importance  of  the  post  he  had  sur- 
rendered, and  re-assumed  control  of  that  part  of  his  paper 
dealing  with  the  reports  of  the  National  Assembly.^  Again, 
during  the  trial  of  the  king  it  was  Girey-Dupre  who  was  en- 
trusted with  the  reports  on  the  ground  that  Brissot  while  act- 
ing as  judge  had  no  right  to  express  his  opinions  editorially.^ 
Finally,  when  the  decree  of  the  Assembly  on  March  9,  1793, 
forbade  the  members  of  the  Convention  to  conduct  news- 
papers,^ Brissot  definitely  turned  over  the  management  of  the 
paper  to  his  partner.  Three  months  later,  with  the  fall  of  the 
Girondins  and  the  flight  of  both  Brissot  and  Girey-Dupre,  the 
Patriate  Frangais  came  to  an  end.  The  partnership  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  journal  naturally  raised  the  question  of  respon- 

^  Mimoires  de  Madame  Roland,  i,  197-98.  Brissot  felt  that  LePage  did  not 
always  treat  him  fairly.  See,  for  instance,  a  letter  of  Madame  Brissot,  of  Octo- 
ber 22,  1791  {Correspondance,  276).  Again,  in  writing  to  her  brother,  January 
15,  1792,  she  says,  "  Le  Journal  ne  rapport  que  4,000  livres  et  mon  mari  a  de- 
pense  en  impressions  100  louis."   Correspondance,  279. 

^  Article  by  M.  Perroud,  La  Famille  de  Madame  Brissot  in  La  Revolution 
Frangaise,  lix,  270-74,  September,  1910. 

'  Joseph  Marie  Girey-Dupre  was  born  in  1769.  He  cast  in  his  fortunes  with 
Brissot  and  the  Girondin  party  and,  after  May  31,  1793,  was  proscribed,  and 
was  executed  November  21,  1793,  for  his  connection  with  the  Patriate  Fran- 
gais. See  pp.  233  n.,  329. 

*  Patriate  Frangais,  September  23,  1791. 

6  Ibid.,  January  1,  1792.  6  j^^^  December  12,  1792. 

^  Moniteur,  March  11,  1793. 


124  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

sibility.  It  came  up  apropos  of  an  article  which  had  appeared 
in  the  Patriote  Frangais  reflecting  on  Camille  DesmouHns,  who 
proceeded  to  call  Brissot  to  account.  His  defense  was  that  the 
article  under  discussion  was  Girey-Dupre's.  To  this  Desmou- 
Hns replied,  with  his  Jean  Pierre  Brissot  demasque :  "It  is  of  no 
use  to  say  that  the  diatribe  is  not  yom-s,  that  it  is  acknowl- 
edged and  signed  by  Girey-Dupre.  The  master  is  responsible 
for  the  misdemeanor  of  the  servant.  It  is  convenient  for  a 
journalist  to  take  M.  Girey  thus  on  the  croup  to  cover  his 
back,  but  I  jump  to  seize  the  bridle  because  it  is  really  you 
who  hold  it  and  it  is  you  who  gave  me  that  dressing." 

Desmoulins  was  right.  Whoever  may  have  been  technically 
and  legally  responsible  for  certain  numbers,  the  fact  remains 
that  from  first  to  last  the  Patriote  Frangais  represents  Brissot's 
own  ideas  as  a  politician  and  his  influence  as  a  journalist.  The 
period  of  its  greatest  influence  was  perhaps  that  of  the  Legisla- 
tive Assembly,  but  during  the  session  of  the  Constituent  it  was 
the  center  of  Brissot's  interest  and  his  chief  means  of  expres- 
sion. In  the  Patriote  Frangais,  therefore,  can  be  traced  Bris- 
sot's attitude  toward  the  constitution  in  the  making,  his  views 
on  the  destructive  and  constructive  work  of  the  National  As- 
sembly, his  relation  to  the  progress  of  the  Revolution,  his  part 
in  the  republican  crisis  of  1791,  and  finally,  his  acceptance  of 
the  constitution  and  of  constitutional  monarchy. 

In  his  Plan  de  conduite  Brissot  had  declared  that  the  making 
of  a  constitution  was  not  within  the  province  of  the  States- 
General,  but  the  opposition  of  the  court  had  changed  the  situa- 
tion; and  if  Brissot  had  been  a  member  of  the  States-General, 
—  now  become  the  National  Assembly,  —  he  would  most  cer- 
tainly have  joined  in  the  oath  taken  by  the  members  not  to 
separate  till  they  had  made  a  constitution  for  France.  The 
drawing-up  of  this  constitution  was  now  the  chief  work  of  the 
Assembly,  and  party  divisions,  already  outlined,  began  to  show 
themselves  more  distinctly.  They  turned  on  the  fundamental 
question  whether  reform  should  be  brought  about  by  modifying 
the  old  system  of  government  or  by  developing  an  entirely  new 


A  JOURNALIST  125 

system.  In  this  tremendous  task  Brissot's  sympathies  were 
with  that  section  of  the  left  well  toward  the  extreme  which  at 
first  had  supported  the  monarchy,  on  condition  that  the  king's 
power  be  strictly  limited,  but  which  now  began  to  incline  to- 
ward a  republic.  He  took  an  absorbing  interest  in  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Assembly,  reported  the  debates  at  length,  espe- 
cially those  which  represented  his  own  views,  and  sought  in 
every  way  to  influence  public  opinion.  He  was  especially  ac- 
tive in  urging  American,  rather  than  English  example  upon 
France.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  seemed  to  him 
a  well-nigh  perfect  model,  and  the  necessity  of  drawing  up  a 
new  form  of  government  for  France  gave  him  the  chance  to 
plan  for  a  French  adaptation  of  that  model.  He  was  also 
interested  in  the  state  constitutions,  and  his  admiration  was 
shared,  though  perhaps  in  a  less  degree,  by  many  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Assembly.  Editions  of  these  American  constitutions, 
both  state  and  national,  had  been  published  in  France,  and 
there  had  grown  up  a  strong  feeling  among  such  men  as  Lafay- 
ette and  De  Saint-fitienne  ^  that  in  the  fundamental  principles 
of  her  proposed  constitution  France  could  find  no  better 
model  than  America.  While  these  men  were  supporting  Ameri- 
can ideas  by  their  votes  in  the  National  Assembly,  Brissot  was 
guiding  and  directing  public  opinion  toward  the  same  end.  The 
recent  American  experience  in  constitution-making  was  a  sub- 
ject in  which  every  one  was  interested.  As  Brissot  had  enjoyed 
the  advantage  of  travel  in  America,  he  was  regarded  as  an 
authority,  and  his  opinions  were  listened  to  with  respect,  even 
where  they  were  not  followed.  As  a  recent  writer  has  pointed 
out,  the  precise  extent  of  American  influence  is  not  suscep- 
tible of  measurement;  ^  its  working,  however,  may  be  observed 
with  profit. 

1  Jean  Paul  Rabaut  Saint-Etienne,  bom  in  1743,  was  a  Protestant  pastor. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  States-General  and  of  the  Convention,  and  stood  al- 
ways for  moderation  and  tolerance.  As  a  member  of  the  committee  of  twelve, 
which  provoked  the  revolution  of  May  31,  he  was  outlawed  and  fled.  On  his 
discovery  he  was  executed. 

2  Aulard,  Histoire  politique  de  la  Revolution,  19-28.    See  the  article  by 


126  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  first  subject  of  discussion  was  a  declaration  of  rights: 
what  rights  should  be  included  and  whether  there  should  be  a 
declaration  at  all.  That  any  one  should  question  for  a  moment 
such  a  necessity  seemed  to  Brissot  absurd.  "A  declaration  of 
rights,"  he  declared,  "is  a  chapter  as  necessary  for  a  constitu- 
tion as  a  foundation  for  a  house.  The  constitution  may  change; 
the  declaration  of  rights  ought  never  to  change."  ^  He  also 
objected  strenuously  to  Mirabeau's  proposition  that  the  con- 
sideration of  the  declaration  of  rights  might  well  be  put  off  till 
the  constitution  was  finished.  If  the  declaration  were  the 
foundation  it  must  of  necessity  be  laid  first. ^  Mirabeau,  if  not 
convinced,  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  opinion  and  presented  a 
draft  of  a  declaration.  This  draft  met  Brissot's  approval  in 
that  it  was  short  and  clear;  he  objected,  however,  to  a  state- 
ment that  it  was  drawn  up  in  the  name  of  the  representatives. 
It  ought  to  be  in  the  name  of  the  French  people.  And  the 
whole  thing  ought,  he  complained,  to  be  drawn  up  more  rapidly. 
Why  could  not  the  Assembly  take  example  from  the  prompt- 
ness with  which  the  Americans  produced  their  Declaration 
of  Independence?  ^ 

The  two  most  important  problems  in  the  formation  of  the 
constitution  itself  concerned  the  distribution  of  power  between 
the  king  and  the  legislative  body  and  the  extent  to  which  de- 
mocracy was  to  prevail.  The  former  involved  the  question  of  one 
chamber  or  two,  the  degree  of  independence  of  the  legislative 
body,  the  veto,  the  right  of  declaring  peace  and  war  and  the 
relation  of  the  ministry  to  the  legislature. 

On  the  question  of  a  bicameral  versus  a  unicameral  system, 
Brissot  supported  Buzot's  plan  for  a  single  chamber  divided 
into  two  sections.  He  was  careful  to  explain,  however,  that  in 
so  doing  he  was  not  advocating  anything  which  resembled  the 
English  parliament.  The  ignorant  and  the  unreflecting,  he  de- 
Henry  E.  Bourne,  entitled  "American  Constitutional  Precedents  in  the  French 
National  Assembly,"  in  the  American  Historical  Review,  April,  1903,  viii, 
466-86. 

^  Patriote  Frangais,  August  1,  1789. 

2  Ibid.,  August  20,  1789.  ^  /^j-^^^  August  24,  1789. 


A  JOURNALIST  127 

clared,  had  raised  the  cry  that  it  would  mean  two  chambers. 
Their  assertion,  he  argued,  was  not  true.  Aside  from  the  num- 
ber two  there  was  nothing  in  common  between  the  two  sections 
proposed  and  the  two  chambers  of  the  Enghsh  Parhament.  In 
the  first  place  the  members  of  the  House  of  Lords  and  of  the 
House  of  Commons  were  not  drawn  from  the  same  classes,  and 
the  division  was  permanent;  whereas  the  members  of  the  two 
sections  in  the  proposed  French  legislature  were  drawn  from 
the  same  body  and  the  division  into  two  sections  would  be  but 
temporary,  being  made  every  two  months  and  by  lot.  Hence 
there  would  be  no  reason  to  fear  intrigue  or  any  esprit  de  corps. 
In  the  second  place  the  object  of  the  two  chambers  was  both  to 
discuss  and  to  vote;  whereas  the  object  of  the  two  sections 
would  be  only  to  discuss,  the  voting  being  done  in  the  united 
assembly.  In  the  third  place  the  House  of  Lords  had  a  veto  on 
the  House  of  Commons;  whereas  in  the  plan  of  the  sections 
neither  would  have  a  veto  upon  the  other.  ^  But  whatever  the 
number  or  the  division  of  the  chambers,  Brissot  stood  firmly 
for  the  permanency  of  the  legislative  assembly,  by  which  he 
meant  annual  meetings  which  should  convene  regularly  with- 
out being  called.^ 

Closely  connected  with  the  question  whether  there  were  to 
be  two  chambers  —  one  to  have  a  veto  on  the  other  —  was  a 
question  of  another  kind  of  veto,  that  exercised  by  the  king 
upon  the  legislative  body.  This  brought  up  the  whole  subject 
of  the  relative  proportion  of  power  to  be  given  to  the  king  and 
to  the  Assembl3^  Opinion  was  sharply  divided:  one  section 
demanded  that  the  power  of  the  king  be  reduced  to  the  nar- 
rowest possible  limits,  while  the  other  stood  for  a  strong  execu- 
tive. Of  the  former  section  Brissot  was  one  of  the  most  ardent 
advocates,  while  the  other  was  ably  represented  by  Mirabeau, 
who  declared  that  in  order  to  make  the  constitution  workable, 
the  executive  must  be  given  considerable  power.  To  this  end 
Mirabeau  proposed  to  give  the  king  an  absolute  veto  and  some 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  May  24,  1791. 

^  Observations  sur  la  nicessitS  d'itablir  .  .  .  des  comites  de  correspondance,  6. 


128  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

real  influence  in  making  peace  and  declaring  war  as  well,  and 
also  to  have  the  ministry  chosen  from  the  legislative  body. 
"The  absolute  veto,"  he  maintained,  "would  not  give  too 
much  power  to  the  king,  because  any  long-continued  and  per- 
sistent opposition  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  would  result  in 
revolution,  and  therefore  public  opinion  might  safely  be  trusted 
as  a  sufficient  check  to  the  apparently  arbitrary  power  ♦in- 
volved in  giving  the  king  an  absolute  veto."  This  opinion 
Brissot  vigorously  combated  in  the  Patriote  Frangais.  In  the 
issue  of  September  15,  1789,  he  took  up  a  speech  by  Mirabeau 
on  the  subject  and  assailed  it  point  by  point.  His  argument 
deserves  quotation  at  length,  not  only  on  account  of  the  im- 
portance of  the  subject,  but  also  because  of  the  frankness  with 
which  he  expressed  republican  sentiments. 

"Mirabeau,"  the  Patriote  Frangais  declared,  "begins  by  say- 
ing that  the  greater  a  nation  is  the  more  active  ought  the  exec- 
utive power  to  be:  from  which  comes  the  necessity  of  a  mo- 
narchical government  in  large  states.  .  .  . 

"This  is  an  error  sanctioned  by  Montesquieu,  of  which  one 
is  disabused  if  one  reflects  on  the  history  of  America.  It  is  not 
the  number  of  individuals  nor  the  extent  of  country  which 
demands  a  monarchical  government.  The  moral  state  of  a  na- 
tion is  the  only  thing  which  ought  to  decide  its  government. 
If  America  had  fifty  million  inhabitants  of  whom  four  fifths 
were  laborers,  as  is  the  case  to-day,  the  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment would  be  the  natural  one  for  it.  Moreover,  a  republic 
like  that  of  the  Americans  has  no  need  of  this  great  activity 
in  the  government,  because  it  is  a  government  of  peace  in 
harmony  with  society,  while  in  a  monarchy,  the  government  is 
constantly  at  war  with  society,  and  consequently  needs  great 
strength.  I  do  not  say  on  this  account  that  France  ought  not  to 
have  a  monarchical  government,  but  I  do  say  that  it  is  not  on 
account  of  its  population  but  because  of  its  moral  maladies. 
"  The  prince  is  the  protector  of  the  people.^ 

1  In  this  and  the  following  italicized  statements  Brissot  is  citing  Mira- 
beau. 


A  JOURNALIST  129 

"He  may  and  he  may  not  be.  The  representatives  may  be 
and  they  may  not:  they  are  under  the  hand  of  the  people. 

"  //  the  king  does  not  have  the  sanction  he  will  he  obliged  to  use 
armed  jorce  against  the  people. 

"  Rarely,  and  if  he  does  have  it,  he  will  turn  it  against  them 
very  often.  Why.''  For  the  same  reason  that  for  six  centuries 
has  kept  us  in  slavery.  The  man  who  does  not  take  an  unfair 
advantage  when  he  can  do  it  with  impunity  is  an  angel. 

"  The  representatives  may  be  badly  chosen. 

"But  they  are  chosen  everywhere  at  the  same  time.  They 
are  changed  at  the  end  of  two  years,  and  if  they  have  made  a 
bad  law,  their  successors  change  it.  The  prince,  on  the  con- 
trary, is  not  chosen;  he  holds  his  office  for  life. 

"  The  grandeur  of  the  prince  depends  on  the  prosperity  of  the 
people. 

"A  political  fable  on  which  we  have  been  brought  up  since 
the  making  of  books  began.  These  protectors  of  the  people 
have  even  amused  themselves  (with  the  exception  of  a  few) 
in  heaping  up  debts,  taxes,  vexations  .  .  .  the  true  protection 
of  the  people  is  in  its  representatives  and  especially  in  the  con- 
stituent power  frequently  exercised. 

"  The  prince  is  the  perpetual  representative  of  the  people,  as  its 
deputies  are  its  temporary  representatives.  Why  rwt  give  them  the 
same  part  in  the  laiv  ? 

"Because  the  one  is  a  perpetual  representative  and  not 
chosen,  and  the  others  are  chosen  and  for  short  terms,  and  are 
consequently  less  dangerous;  because  the  latter  have  only  one 
kind  of  power,  and  the  other,  if  he  had  a  veto,  would  have  a 
terrible  power  joined  to  the  most  terrible  of  all  powers  —  the 
executive. 

"  //  the  prince  has  not  the  veto,  what  will  prevent  the  representa- 
tives from  prolonging  their  authority  and  holding  it  indefinitely  ? 

"The  constitution,  which  preserves  in  the  hands  of  the  peo- 
ple the  right  of  reforming  it  and  of  choosing  special  assemblies 
at  fixed  terms  and  thus  putting  a  stop  to  the  usurpations  of  its 
representatives.  ... 


130  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

"  What  is  there  to  fear  from  the  royal  veto  if  the  taxes  and  the 
existence  of  the  army  are  provided  for  annually  ? 

"  Everything,  for  the  people  will  never  dare  to  stop  the  pay- 
ment of  the  taxes,  or  to  dismiss  the  army.  The  evil  which  will 
result  from  this  state  of  things  will  fall  more  upon  the  people 
than  upon  the  king. 

"Finally,  if  the  Prince  does  not  have  the  veto,  and  if  he  is 
obliged  to  sanction  a  bad  law,  the  only  remedy  is  in  insurrection. 

"An  error.  The  representatives  who  follow  can  change  the 
law,  according  to  the  will  of  the  people." 

Brissot  objected  also  to  the  alternative  involved  in  a  sus- 
pensive veto  which  would  necessitate  the  reenactment  of  any 
vetoed  measure  by  the  next  two  legislatures.  In  opposition 
to  both  alternatives,  he  proposed  a  veto  like  that  given  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  which  would  check  legislation, 
but  only  temporarily.  If  ever  Brissot  longed  to  have  a  voice  in 
the  Assembly  it  was  that  he  might  plead  for  this  American 
veto.  Lacking  such  opportunity,  he  tried  through  the  columns 
of  the  Patriote  Frangais  to  arouse  public  opinion  on  the  matter. 
It  was  so  reasonable,  he  urged;  it  prevented  hasty  and  ill-con- 
sidered legislation  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  gave  no 
dangerous  power  to  the  President.  It  only  necessitated  further 
discussion  and  could  not  prevent  the  passing  of  any  law  which 
was  really  good  and  widely  demanded.^ 

On  the  question  of  the  right  of  declaring  war  and  making 
peace,  Brissot  and  Mirabeau  again  came  into  clash.  As  in  the 
matter  of  the  veto,  Mirabeau  exerted  all  his  energy  to  securing 
some  effective  authority  for  the  king.  Realizing  that  it  was 
hopeless  to  propose  that  the  king  alone  should  have  the  right  of 
declaring  war,  he  contented  himself  with  a  compromise,  and 
proposed  instead  that  the  right  of  making  peace  and  declaring 
war  belonged  to  the  nation,  but  that  in  the  case  of  threatened 
hostility  the  king  should  be  allowed  to  make  preparation  for 
war  and  afterward  to  appeal  to  the  legislative  body  for  sanc- 
tion of  his  course  of  action. ^  This  proposal  to  leave  a  virtual 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  September  4,  1789.  '  Moniteur,  May  21,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  131 

initiative  to  the  king,  aroused  great  indignation,  which  Brissot 
was  one  of  the  first  to  voice.  Mirabeau's  plan,  he  declared,  was 
not  clear,  since  it  did  not  make  sufficiently  plain  the  line  of 
demarkation  between  the  executive  and  the  legislative,  and  it 
ignored  the  rights  of  the  nation.  The  debates  on  this  subject 
Brissot  reported  at  length,  but  with  perhaps  more  than  usual 
partisanship.  He  spoke,  for  instance,  of  the  miserable  subtle- 
ties of  a  Malouet  who  pretended  that  "almost  all  wars  were 
undertaken  in  the  interests  of  the  people  rather  than  by  the 
caprices  of  kings,"  and  supported  Petion  in  his  argument  that 
under  a  king  who  exercised  the  right  of  making  war,  liberty 
could  not  long  exist.  ^  In  spite  of  this  opposition  Mirabeau 
secured  the  adoption  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  his  bill. 
On  the  question  of  choosing  the  ministry  from  the  legisla- 
tive body  Brissot  was  again  opposed  to  Mirabeau.  To  estab- 
lish such  a  connection  would  obviously  bring  about  greater 
harmony  between  the  executive  and  the  legislative  depart- 
ments of  the  government,  but  Brissot  strenuously  opposed  it, 
on  the  ground  that  it  savored  too  much  of  the  English  con- 
stitution and  that  in  any  case  it  would  give  too  much  power  to 
the  executive.  In  answer  to  Mirabeau's  argument  that  under 
existing  conditions  such  separation  would  result  in  anarchy, 
he  pointed  to  the  example  of  the  United  States.  "Admit  the 
ministers  to  the  Assembly,"  he  declared,  "and  you  will  give 
them  the  means  of  executing  the  schemes  which  they  have  de- 
vised in  their  cabinets.  .  .  .  Such  is  the  history  of  the  parlia- 
ment of  England  [ministerial  corruption].  It  is  because  the 
United  States  were  familiar  with  that  daily  experience  that 
they  have  forever  excluded  the  secretaries  of  state  from  the 
meetings  of  Congress.  If,  then,  in  a  country  where  there  is 
little  opportunity  for  corruption,  and  where  there  are  no  pen- 
sions or  lucrative  places,  and  where  assemblies  are  frequently 
renewed  ...  If ,  I  say,  in  that  country  the  influence  of  minis- 
ters is  feared,  how  much  more  ought  it  to  be  feared  in  a  coun- 
try where  corruption  and  the  most  frightful  luxury  reign.?  "  2 
1  Patriate  Frangais.  May  18-21.  1790.  2  Ibid.,  November  8,  1789. 


132  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

"Further,"  he  argued,  "ministers  not  only  should  be  al- 
lowed no  chance  for  control  of  the  legislative  body;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  legislative  body  should  have  that  control  over  the 
ministers  which  would  come  from  some  voice  in  choosing  them. 
The  choice  and  dismissal  of  the  ministers  and  ambassadors 
ought  not  to  be  left  to  the  king  alone,  the  representatives  of  the 
people  should  have  something  to  say  in  the  matter.  Leave  to 
the  king,  for  instance,  the  right  of  naming  three  or  four  persons 
for  each  vacancy,  and  then  let  the  National  Assembly  choose 
one  from  this  list.  Under  the  new  regime,"  he  added,  "  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  find  sufficiently  able  ministers."  Now  that 
many  of  their  former  functions  had  been  taken  over  by  the 
legislative  body  no  extraordinary  ability  was  needed  to  fill  the 
office.  Ordinary  intelligence,  some  knowledge  of  affairs,  dig- 
nity and  diligence  were  quite  sufficient.^ 

In  the  method  of  amending  the  constitution  Brissot  was  not 
quite  so  anxious  to  follow  American  example.  Indeed,  this 
seems  to  be  one  of  the  few  cases  where  he  realized  that  a  dif- 
ference in  conditions  might  require  a  modification  in  the  model 
followed.  France,  not  being  a  federation  of  states  and  having 
a  legislative  body  of  one  chamber  instead  of  two,  lacked  the 
machinery  for  amending  the  constitution  which  was  employed 
in  the  United  States.  However  well  it  might  work  there,  Bris- 
sot feared  giving  an  initiative  in  changing  the  constitution  to 
the  legislative  body.  As  it  was  not  practicable  for  the  people 
themselves,  gathered  in  primary  assemblies,  to  change  the 
constitution,  conventions  should  be  called.  And,  as  it  was  not 
desirable  to  leave  the  calling  of  conventions  to  the  very  powers 
they  were  summoned  to  censure,  they  ought  to  be  periodic.  If 
it  were  objected  that  conventions  might  dare  to  change  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  constitution,  this  danger,  Bris- 
sot replied,  would  be  slight  compared  with  the  evils  which 
would  result  from  the  absence  of  conventions  altogether.  One 
method  of  preventing  it  would  be  to  take  a  hint  from  the 
method  employed  in  the  United  States,  and,  while  rejecting 
1  Patriote  Franqais,  September  26,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  133 

the  initiative  of  the  legislative  body,  allow  that  body  to  veto 
amendments  by  a  two-thirds  vote.^  The  arrangement  for 
proposing  amendments  only  on  the  demand  of  three  succes- 
sive legislatures  would,  on  the  contrary,  he  declared,  be  ab- 
solutely ineffective,  since  three  successive  legislatures  would 
never  want  the  same  thing. ^  Brissot's  ideas  did  not  prevail  on 
all  these  important  questions  —  a  unicameral  system  being 
adopted  instead  of  the  two-sectioned  chamber,  a  really  sus- 
pensive veto  instead  of  the  modified  American  system  and  a 
method  of  amendment  which  did  not  provide  for  elections  at 
fi^ed  periods.  On  the  other  hand,  his  ideas  did  prevail  in  the 
manner  of  choosing  the  ministers,  and  on  those  points  where 
his  views  were  not  carried  out  he  assisted  in  forcing  a  compro- 
mise, and  in  preventing  the  complete  adoption  of  Mirabeau's 
plans.  The  constitution  in  its  solution  of  the  relation  between 
the  king  and  the  legislature  conformed  far  more  closely  to  the 
ideas  of  Brissot  than  to  those  of  Mirabeau.  This  was  unfor- 
tunate, as  the  outcome  proved. 

With  the  solution  of  the  other  main  question  —  how  far  the 
constitution  should  be  democratic  in  character — Brissot  was  far 
from  satisfied.  As  might  have  been  expected  from  his  attitude 
in  his  early  writings,  he  not  only  demanded  that  the  power  of 
the  king  be  weakened,  but  that  democracy  prevail  to  the  great- 
est possible  extent.  To  this  end  he  supported  with  all  his  might 
that  small  section  of  the  left  of  the  Assembly  which  stood  for 
a  democratic  as  opposed  to  a  bourgeois  constitution.  In  his 
Bibliotheqiie  philosophique  he  had  said  that  under  a  monarchy 
he  would  be  content  with  civil  equality,^  but  he  now  demanded 
political  equality.  Indeed  the  division  into  active  and  passive 
citizens  seemed  to  him  not  only  unwise,  but  positively  iniqui- 
tous, and  through  the  columns  of  the  Patriote  Frangais  he  stren- 
uously and  repeatedly  objected  to  all  legislation  based  upon  it. 
To  withhold  the  right  of  suffrage  from  passive  citizens  was,  he 

*  Discours  sur  les  conventions,  8  axrdt,  1791. 
^  Patriote  Franqais,  September  5,  1791. 
'  Biblioth^que  philosophique,  iii,  235. 


134  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

declared,  a  violation  of  the  principle  laid  down  by  the  Assembly 
that  a  man  can  be  subject  only  to  those  laws  to  which  he  or  his 
representatives  have  given  their  consent.  Can  the  Assembly 
thus  violate  that  principle  with  regard  to  any  one  class  of  citi- 
zens without  hopelessly  contradicting  itself?  he  asked.  Why, 
to  take  a  particular  instance,  should  domestics  be  specifically 
excluded?  Were  they  not  men?  They  were  in  a  state  of  de- 
pendence, it  was  asserted;  but  that  was  true  of  many  profes- 
sions.^ Another  vicious  law,  he  declared,  was  that  providing 
that  the  national  guard  should  be  composed  only  of  active  citi- 
zens, and  to  enforce  his  point  he  published,  though  with  some 
omissions,  a  vehement  letter  of  Madame  Roland  in  protest.^ 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  assert  that  some  of  those  who  had 
striven  for  this  division  into  active  and  passive  citizens,  had 
done  it  with  malice  aforethought,  with  the  secret  purpose  of 
creating  in  the  passive  citizens  an  agency  which  might  be  used 
in  the  interests  of  despotism. 

A  representation  which  rested  on  territory  and  taxes,  as  well  as 
on  population,  he  assailed  as  likewise  undemocratic  and  quoted 
at  length  Petion's  arguments  to  prove  that  since  men  alone  were 
represented,  population  should  be  the  sole  basis  for  national 
representation.^  He  objected  also  to  the  indirect  method  of 
election  to  the  legislative  body;  it  was  better  than  destroy- 
ing the  influence  of  the  people  by  two  intermediary  degrees  in 
the  elections,  but  it  would  have  been  better  yet  to  follow  the 
example  of  England  and  America,  and  have  elections  directly 
by  the  people.^  While  arguing  for  the  rights  of  the  people  in  the 
matter  of  elections,  he  took  up  the  cause  of  the  Protestants, 
Jews,  and  actors,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  plead,  both  in  his 
newspaper  and  before  the  city  council,  that  they  be  given  civil 

1  Patriote  Franqais,  October  24,  1789. 

2  Madame  Roland  wrote:  "Tai  vu  aujourd'hui  cetie  assemblee  qu'on  ne 
savrait  appeler  nationale  (e'est  Venfer  meme  avec  toutes  ses  horreurs),  la  raison, 
la  verite,  la  justice  y  sont  etouffees,  honnies  {conspuees)."  The  words  between  the 
parentheses  are  omitted  in  the  Patriote  Franqais.  See  Lettres  de  Madame 
Roland,  ii,  269-71  and  note,  271;  also  Patriote  Franqais,  April  30,  1791. 

»  Patriote  Franqais,  November  10,  1789.       *  Ibid.,  November  18,  1789. 


A  JOURNALIST  135 

rights.^  The  power  accorded  to  an  hereditary,  immovable,  and 
non-elective  regency  he  also  objected  to,  as  another  thoroughly 
undemocratic  feature  of  the  constitution,  criticized  Barnave 
severely  for  supporting  it,  and  praised  Petion  warmly,  as  the 
one  man  who  had  opposed  it.^ 

In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  left  in  the  Assembly,  represented 
by  such  men  as  Petion,  and  by  such  journalists  as  Brissot,  a 
constitution  was  finally  adopted  which,  if  it  greatly  limited  the 
power  of  the  king,  was  far  from  being  democratic,  and  it  was 
further  decreed  that  it  should  go  into  efiFect  without  being  sub- 
mitted to  the  people.  To  such  a  decision  Brissot  had  been  con- 
stantly opposed  as  another  evidence  of  an  undemocratic  spirit. 
In  his  Plan  de  conduite  he  had  spoken  in  favor  of  the  submittal 
to  the  people,^  and  when  the  constitution  was  first  discussed  he 
published  an  excited  letter  of  Madame  Roland  on  the  subject,^ 
and  wrote  himself  with  much  spirit  that  not  to  submit  the  con- 
stitution to  the  people  seemed  to  him  so  dangerous,  so  destruc- 
tive of  a  free  constitution,  that  he  could  not  conceive  how  such 
an  idea  could  find  partisans  in  the  Assembly,  and  especially 
among  the  defenders  of  the  people.^  But  in  view  of  the  crisis  of 
the  summer  of  1791,  he  came  to  doubt  the  advisability  of  sub- 
mitting this  particular  constitution  to  the  people  at  a  time  of 
such  general  disturbance,  and  in  his  Discours  siir  les  conventions 
of  August  8,  1791,  he  wTote  that  "a  ratification  just  now  would 
be  impossible,  impoHtic  and  dangerous.  In  fact,  the  people  are 
just  emerging  from  a  long  period  of  slavery;  they  are  emerging 
from  the  tomb.   Their  eyes  are  barely  open  to  the  light.  They 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  December  24,  26,  1789,  and  June  15  and  17,  1790. 

2  Ibid.,  March  23-26,  1791.  »  ggg  p  92. 

*  Letter  to  Brissot  of  August  3,  1789,  printed  in  the  Patriote  Frangais  of 
August  12:  "Au  nom  de  Dieul  gardez-vous  Men  de  declarer  que  VAssemhlee 
Nationale  pent  fixer  irrevocablement  la  Constitution ;  il  faut,  si  elle  en  trace  It 
TpTojet,  quil  soit  ensvite  envoye  dans  toutes  les  provinces,  pour  etre  adopte,  modi- 
fie,  approve  par  les  Constituants. 

"L'Assemhlee  n'estformee  que  de  constituh,  qui  n'ont  pas  droit  de  fixer  notre 
sort,  ce  droit  est  au  peuple,  il  ne  peut  ni  le  cider,  ni  le  deliguer."  Lettres  de 
Madame  Roland,  11,  55. 

^  Patriote  Frangais,  September  9,  1789. 


136  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

need  to  learn  how  to  use  their  organs  before  judging  with 
them." 

Closely  connected  with  the  constitution,  though  not  an 
actual  part  of  it,  was  the  new  judicial  system.  The  reform  of 
justice  had  been  the  subject  perhaps  dearest  of  all  to  Brissot's 
heart,  and  he  now  watched  the  development  of  the  new  judicial 
organization  with  the  keenest  interest,  throwing  his  influence 
always  in  favor  of  such  organization  as  would  provide  for  the 
fullest  equality  and  the  greatest  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
people.  Three  general  plans  were  proposed  by  Thouret,  Duport, 
and  Sieyes  respectively:  Thouret's  plan  was  rather  a  modifi- 
cation of  the  system  existing  under  the  old  regime  than  a  new 
system  and  allowed  the  king  considerable  power  in  choosing  the 
judges.  It  provided,  however,  for  a  jury  only  in  criminal  cases. 
Duport  on  the  other  hand  suppressed  all  vestige  of  the  past,  and 
in  building  up  a  new  system  followed  largely  English  example. 
He  provided  for  juries  in  civil,  as  well  as  in  criminal  cases,  and 
gave  the  nomination  of  the  judges  to  the  directories  and  their 
final  choice  to  the  people.  Sieyes's  plan  also  provided  for  a  thor- 
oughgoing change,  its  most  distinctive  feature  being  the  organ- 
ization of  juries  composed  of  members  of  the  bar.^  In  criticizing 
these  plans  Brissot  spoke  with  rather  more  caution  than  usual. 
He  objected  to  Thouret's  scheme  as  savoring  too  much  of  the 
old  regime, 2  approved  of  Sieyes's  plan  in  the  abstract,  but  de- 
clared with  an  apt  quotation  from  Montaigne,  that  everything 
that  emanated  from  Sieyes  would  fit  in  a  new  world,  but  was 
less  suited  to  a  world  where  custom  was  already  fixed. ^  Du- 
port's  scheme,  therefore,  as  involving  both  thorough  reform 
and  practicability  seemed  to  him  the  best.  Brissot  admitted 
that  the  English  had  had  some  difficulties  with  the  jury  system, 
but  thought  that  they  had  been  exaggerated,  and  declared  him- 
self in  favor  of  the  jury  for  civil  as  well  as  for  criminal  cases. 
The  whole  matter  seems  to  have  been  decided  with  less  acri- 
monious discussion  and  with  more  unanimity  than  usual  and 

*  See  Seligmann,  Le  justice  revolutionnaire. 

«  Patriote  Franqais,  March  25,  1790.  ^  /ji^.,  April  7  and  30,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  137 

on  the  whole  to  have  met  Brissot's  approval.  There  were  other 
features  of  the  proposed  judicial  system,  however,  which  gave 
rise  to  considerable  debate,  namely,  the  question  of  tenure  of 
office  and  of  circuit  judges.  To  the  proposition  for  life  office, 
Brissot  objected  as  a  flagrant  violation  of  equality,  and  re- 
joiced when  it  was  rejected.  At  the  same  time  he  would  give 
judges  a  longer  term  of  office  than  ordinary  administrators,  and 
make  them  reeligible,  requiring,  however,  an  interval  before 
they  could  be  reelected.  This  constant  reeligibility  he  declared 
was  the  one  fault  in  the  American  Congress  and  ought  to  be 
avoided  in  France.^  He  was  consequently  much  disappointed 
to  find  that  the  reeligibility  of  the  judges  was  voted  with  no 
provision  for  an  interval.  He  also  regretted  the  decision  in 
favor  of  sedentary  judges  instead  of  judges  on  circuit,  which, 
in  spite  of  some  English  opinion  against  it,  seemed  to  him 
decidedly  preferable. ^  But  in  the  main  the  new  system  meant 
equality  and  real  justice,  and  Brissot  was  fairly  content. 

With  the  development  of  liberty  in  relation  to  the  freedom  of 
the  press,  he  was  less  content.  As  a  pamphleteer  and  journalist 
it  had  long  been  to  him,  and  throughout  his  career  in  the  Revo- 
lution it  continued  to  be,  not  only  a  matter  of  principle  but  also 
of  vital  personal  interest.  He  was  no  mere  onlooker,  but  from 
the  moment  when  he  boldly  announced  his  journal  and,  in  the 
face  of  ministerial  opposition,  appealed  to  the  States-General,^ 
he  was  an  active  combatant  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle. 
The  decree  of  May  19,  by  which  Maissemy,  the  general  director 
of  the  book  trade,  permitted  newspapers  to  publish  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Assembly,  was  a  virtual  recognition  of  freedom 
of  the  press,  though  he  tried  to  save  appearances  by  adding 
that  no  reflections  or  commentary  on  the  debates  would  be 
allowed,*  and  the  events  of  July  14  made  its  de  facto  establish- 
ment complete.  It  was  some  weeks,  however,  before  the  action 
of  the  Assembly  provided  for  freedom  of  the  press  de  jure. 

^  Pafriote  Franqais,  May  4,  1790. 

2  Ihid.,  March  31,  May  2,  4  and  26,  1790. 

3  See  p.  115.  *  See  p.  116. 


138  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

This  delay  Brissot  found  very  trying  and  complained  bitterly 
that  the  Assembly  was  altogether  too  slow  in  recognizing 
already  existing  facts.  He  was  therefore  delighted  when,  on 
August  24,  the  Assembly  voted  article  eleven  of  the  declaration 
of  rights,  "that  the  free  communication  of  his  thoughts  and 
opinions  was  one  of  the  most  precious  rights  of  man  and  that 
every  citizen  was  at  liberty  to  speak,  write  and  print  freely 
whatever  he  pleased,  being  answerable  only  for  the  abuse  of 
that  liberty  in  the  cases  determined  by  law."  This  was  merely 
a  declaration ;  there  remained  the  difficult  and  delicate  task  of 
formulating  the  law  which  was  to  carry  it  out.  ^  In  January,  1790, 
Sieyes  came  forward  with  the  proposition  for  a  law  to  the  effect 
that  if  a  certain  work  should  excite  the  people  to  use  violent 
means  in  order  to  obtain  their  demands,  the  persons  responsible 
could  be  declared  guilty  of  sedition  and  punished;  and  further, 
if  an  article  printed  within  eight  days  before  a  seditious  outbreak 
should  contain  false  allegations  which  had  excited  the  sedition, 
the  persons  responsible  should  be  pursued  and  punished  as 
themselves  guilty  of  sedition. ^  This  law  Brissot  criticized  se- 
verely, chiefly  upon  the  ground  that  sedition  itself  had  not  yet 
been  defined.^  Moreover  he  did  effective  work  in  preventing 
its  passage,  by  publishing  frequent  articles  against  it.^  Just  at 
this  juncture  the  quarrel  between  the  Chatelet  on  the  one  hand 
and  Marat  and  Danton  on  the  other  came  to  a  head  and  gave 
special  point  to  the  discussion  of  freedom  of  speech.  On  ac- 
count of  his  violent  attacks  on  the  moderate  party,  particu- 
larly on  Bailly,  Mayor  of  Paris,  the  Chatelet  had  ordered  the 
arrest  of  Marat.  It  now  turned  upon  Danton  for  having  re- 
sisted that  court  as  illegal  and  more  especially  for  having  him- 
self, in  the  local  assembly,  threatened  resistance  to  the  authori- 
ties of  Paris.  Desmoulins  in  his  paper  took  up  the  cause  of 
Danton  and  was  ably  seconded  by  Brissot.  Freedom  of  thought 

1  For  a  discussion  of  this  subject  see  Soderhjehm,  Le  Regime  de  la  presse. 

2  Moniteur,  January  23,  1790.  ^  Patriofe  Frangais,  January  31,  1790. 

*  See,  for  example,  the  quotation  from  an  article  by  Kerolio  in  the  Pa- 
triate Frangais  of  February  3,  the  address  of  Robert  Pigott  in  that  of  February 
10,  and  the  letter  from  Chaveau  de  la  Garde,  February  15, 1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  139 

would  cease  to  exist,  declared  the  latter,  if  speeches,  whatever 
their  character,  which  were  made  in  the  course  of  a  discussion 
in  a  legislative  body  could  be  travestied  into  flagrant  misde- 
meanors.^ And  when,  a  few  days  later,  apropos  of  an  article 
of  Marat  calling  the  people  to  arms,  and  an  article  of  Des- 
moulins  comparing  the  fete  of  the  federation  with  a  triumph  of 
Paulus  Emilius,  the  Assembly  ordered  an  accusation  of  high 
treason  against  the  journals  which  had  incited  insurrection, 
he  cried  out  with  horror  that  the  Assembly  should  have  dared 
to  pass  such  a  decree  against  alleged  libelists  before  it  had  even 
decided  in  what  a  libel  consisted.  And  even  if  they  had  laid 
down  definite  principles,  they  were  taking  action  without  first 
inquiring  whether  the  persons  accused  were  the  authors  of  the 
articles  in  question,  and  if  so,  whether  the  principles  applied  to 
them.  Though  he  was  far,  he  added,  from  approving  of  the  fury 
of  Marat,  he  could  not  help  feeling  that  his  case  had  done  good 
service  in  repressing  the  enemies  of  the  Revolution,  and  in  any 
event  so  long  as  there  existed  no  definite  law  against  libels,  nor 
special  tribunals  to  deal  with  them,  any  accusation  of  the  kind 
in  question  was  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  man,  of  the  rules  of 
common  sense  and  of  the  constitution,  and  was  liable  to  lead 
to  the  most  monstrous  iniquity.^ 

Meanwhile  Brissot  had  gotten  into  trouble  himself.  He  had 
published  a  letter  in  which  a  chapter  of  women  at  Remiremont 
was  accused  of  aristocratic  tendencies,  of  hindering  the  pros- 
perity of  the  city,  and  of  using  its  influence  against  the  Revolu- 
tion. These  allegations  produced  a  tempest  of  excitement  at 
Remiremont  and  stirred  up  a  veritable  wasps'  nest  for  Brissot. 
Three  citizens  of  Remiremont  declared  that  they  were  in  danger 
of  losing  their  lives  under  suspicion  of  having  WTitten  the  letter, 
and  begged  him  to  reveal  the  name  of  the  real  author;  and  a 
deputation  of  the  municipality  and  of  the  national  guard  made 
formal  complaint  against  him  before  the  National  Assembly.^ 

1  Patriate  Francois,  March  26,  1790.  ^  jn^^  August  2,  1790. 

2  Proces  verbal  de  V Assemhlee  nationale,  August  5,  1790.  See  also  Lacroix, 
Actes  de  la  Commune,  vii,  268,  note. 


140  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

M.  Bexon,  a  Paris  lawyer,  took  up  this  cause,  haled  Brissot  be- 
fore the  police,  and  had  the  number  of  the  Patriate  Franqais  in 
question  placarded  as  a  libel.  In  reply,  Brissot  declared  that 
the  matter  was  outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  police;  that 
M.  Bexon  was  not  qualified  to  plead;  that  the  placard  against 
the  letter  was  itself  a  libel  but  that  the  letter  was  not  libelous. 
Libel,  he  declared,  must  involve  a  false  accusation  of  an  overt 
act  of  which  the  law  could  take  cognizance;  to  accuse  a  person 
of  pride,  or  lack  of  patriotism,  or  other  fault  of  character  not 
within  the  purview  of  the  law,  could  not  possibly  be  construed 
as  libel.  ^ 

Meanwhile  no  definite  law  against  libels  was  enacted  by  the 
Assembly,  but  with  the  growing  disturbances  of  the  summer  of 
1791,  the  matter  again  came  to  the  front.  Brissot  was  more  and 
more  inclined  to  believe  in  complete  liberty.  He  published 
extracts  from  Lanthenas's  work  on  the  subject,  quoted  Petion's 
speeches,  and  declared  that  much  as  he  abhorred  any  incitation 
to  murder  or  assassination,  he  did  not  believe  it  possible  to 
frame  a  law  which  would  effectively  prosecute  libels  and  at  the 
same  time  not  serve  as  a  pretext  for  injustice.  It  was  equally 
impossible,  he  added,  to  frame  one  which  could  not  be  easily 
evaded,  and  of  which  the  benefit  to  the  persons  injured  would 
not  be  overbalanced  by  injury  to  the  public  welfare.  In  any 
case,  the  law  should  take  cognizance  only  of  the  calumnies 
directed  against  citizens  as  private  individuals.^  The  law  of 
August  22,  as  passed,  therefore  seemed  to  him  dangerous,  and 
he  warmly  commended  Robespierre's  objections  to  it.  In  pro- 
viding for  action  against  those  who  purposely  provoked  dis- 
obedience to  the  laws  and  the  degradation  of  constituted 
authorities  there  was  danger,  he  asserted,  of  checking  free  dis- 
cussion of  public  affairs,  and  especially  legitimate  criticism 
directed  against  public  men.^  His  attack  was  met  by  the  sup- 
porters of  the  law  with  the  assurance  that  by  constituted 
authorities  it  was  not  intended  to  include  the  men  who  exer- 

^  Pr&cis  pour  M.  Bexon.  ^  Patriate  Franqais,  August  18,  1791. 

3  Ihid.,  August  23,  1791. 


A  JOURNALIST  141 

cised  the  authority,  and  that  freedom  was  further  guaranteed 
by  the  provision  that  accusation  against  the  press  must  be 
tried  by  a  jury.^  As  the  Revolution  progressed,  however,  hbel 
came  to  be  appHed  with  great  elasticity,  both  to  opposition  to 
persons  in  power  and  to  the  policy  they  represented.  As  early 
as  January,  1792,  Bertrand  de  Moleville,  the  minister  of  marine, 
attempted  to  get  a  decree  of  the  council  against  Brissot  for 
"atrocious  and  calumnious  imputations"  against  Louis  XVI, 
but  it  was  too  late,  the  royalist  and  the  moderate  party  had  lost 
their  power  and  the  attempt  failed.-  After  the  10th  of  August 
there  was  no  longer  freedom  of  speech  for  the  royalist  journals, 
and  when  the  Girondins  in  turn  began  to  lose  influence,  their 
journals  were  likewise  denounced  as  libelous,  and  on  March  10, 
1793,  on  the  pretext  that  a  member  of  the  Convention  should 
not  at  the  same  time  conduct  a  journal,  Brissot  was  obliged 
to  give  up  the  editorship  of  the  Patriote  Frangais.^ 

The  work  of  constitution-making  and  of  passing  fundamental 
laws  on  the  judicial  organization  and  on  freedom  of  speech  was 
not  the  only  task  of  the  National  Assembly.  Owing  to  its  dis- 
trust of  the  king  and  his  ministers,  it  gradually  assumed  a  large 
share  of  the  administration  of  the  government.  With  every 
step  in  this  direction  Brissot  was  delighted.  The  sovereignty 
of  the  people  might  not  be  complete  in  that  they  did  not  choose 
the  executive,  but  he  would  have  it  as  complete  as  possible  in 
controlling  the  actions  of  the  executive.  Holding  such  views, 
he  naturally  resented  the  assertion  of  the  Moniteur  that  the 
ministers  had  the  right  to  order  the  coining  of  money  without 
consulting  the  Assembly;  declared  that  the  ministers  must  be 
held  accountable  for  their  conduct ;  *  that  the  Assembly  was  too 
ready  to  leave  in  office  men  attached  to  the  old  regime;  ^  and 
that  in  the  conduct  of  foreign  affairs  they  must  be  particularly 

'  Patriots  FrariQais,  August  24,  1791.    For  the  danger  of  resisting  freedom 
of  speech  in  making  laws  against  the  refractory  priests,  see  p.  146. 
^  Bertrand  de  Moleville,  Ilistoire  de  la  Revolution  de  France,  vii,  54. 
»  Moniteur,  March  11,  1793.   See  also  p.  329. 

*  Patriote  Frangais,  October  21,  22,  1790. 

*  Ibid.,  November  4,  1790. 


142  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

careful  to  choose  men  whom  they  could  rely  on  as  attached  to 
the  principles  of  the  Revolution. 

As  regards  foreign  affairs  the  Assembly  was  only  too  ready 
to  take  the  control  into  its  own  hands  and  to  adopt  most  radical 
measures.  Here  again,  as  on  the  constitution,  Brissot  was 
diametrically  opposed  to  Mirabeau,  and  again  he  used  the  influ- 
ence of  his  paper  to  press  what  he  considered  the  example  of 
the  United  States  and  to  uphold  the  power  of  the  people  as 
against  that  of  the  king.  Mirabeau,  as  chairman  of  the  diplo- 
matic committee  of  the  National  Assembly,  held  a  position  of 
influence  which  gave  him  great  authority  in  foreign  affairs. 
With  all  the  power  of  tongue  and  pen  at  his  command  he  tried 
to  prevent  the  headstrong  policy  of  the  Assembly  from  ending 
in  war.  In  the  case  of  Avignon  there  was  special  need  of  his 
restraining  hand,  for  France  regarded  with  covetous  eyes  this 
ancient  possession  of  the  Papacy.  In  Avignon  itself  a  French 
party  had  been  created  which  demanded  annexation  to  France, 
and  this  policy  was  powerfully  supported  by  a  large  number  of 
deputies  in  the  Assembly.  Mirabeau  had  succeeded  in  deferring 
the  decision  for  a  time,  but  upon  the  outbreak  of  a  revolution 
in  Avignon  the  Assembly  dispatched  troops  there,  and  the 
radical  party  made  this  circumstance  an  added  argument  for 
annexation.  This  policy  Brissot  ardently  supported.  When  the 
request  for  annexation  was  referred  to  the  king  he  was  very  anx- 
ious lest  the  king  might  refuse  his  consent,  and  found  in  the 
danger  of  this  situation  an  argument  against  giving  to  the  ex- 
ecutive power  the  sole  initiative  in  foreign  affairs.  That  Avig- 
non belonged  to  the  Pope,  and  that  its  annexation  would  in- 
volve a  flagrant  breach  of  international  law,  counted  for  little 
in  his  estimation.  To  await  the  consent  of  the  Pope  he  consid- 
ered a  recognition  of  diplomatic  usage  which  the  United  States 
never  would  have  sanctioned,  and  following  what  he  supposed 
to  be  the  example  of  the  United  States,  he  declared  that  diplo- 
macy must  be  disregarded.  Mirabeau's  statement,  that  even  if 
Avignon  were  free  to  give  herself,  France  had  no  right  to  accept 
the  offer,  he  denounced  as  involving  both  a  violation  of  the 


A  JOURNALIST  143 

natural  rights  of  man  and  a  recognition  of  the  power  of  the  old 
diplomacy.^ 

Another  important  international  question  was  the  affair  of 
Nootka  Sound  —  and  here  Mirabeau  and  Brissot  upheld  the 
same  policy,  though  for  different  reasons.  Spain  had  seized 
property  claimed  by  England  in  Nootka  Sound,  off  Vancouver 
Island,  and,  when  England  threatened  war,  Spain  appealed  to 
France  for  aid.  She  based  her  appeal  on  the  Facte  de  Famille, 
the  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  concluded  between  France 
and  Spain  in  1761.  In  answer,  the  Assembly,  led  by  Mirabeau, 
while  not  refusing  Spain's  appeal  for  assistance,  practically 
nullified  that  assistance  by  taking  steps  to  dissolve  the  Facte  de 
Famille  on  the  ground  that  its  further  continuance  would  be 
inexpedient  and  dangerous  for  France.  The  Assembly  proposed 
instead  to  substitute  for  it  an  ordinary  treaty  of  alliance.  With 
this  action  Brissot  was  fully  in  sympathy,  not  on  the  ground  of 
expediency,  but  because  the  family  compact  was  a  reminiscence 
of  the  old  regime  and  as  such  should  be  destroyed. ^  "The 
court  of  Spain  does  not  know,"  he  \vTote,  "that  since  the  revo- 
lution a  king  of  the  French  is  not  under  obligation  to  execute 
the  treaties  of  the  king  of  France;  that  kings  in  a  free  govern- 
ment have  no  family;  that  France  hereafter  will  have  com- 
pacts only  with  the  great  family  of  the  human  race."  ^ 

In  this  case  Brissot  and  Mirabeau  agreed,  but  agreement 
between  them  was  the  exception.  As  in  the  formation  of  the 
constitution,  Mirabeau's  object  was  to  produce  a  constitution 
which  should  be  practicable,  so  in  the  management  of  foreign 
and  financial  affairs  he  was  guided  by  expediency.  Brissot,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  predominantly  influenced  by  theory  and 
considerations  of  abstract  right,  and  failed  both  to  appreciate 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  November  18,  1790,  where  he  supported  P6tion  in  his 
contention  that  Avignon  had  the  right  to  unite  herself  to  France.  See  also 
Patriate  Frangais  of  November  22,  1790.  < 

2  Ibid.,  June  21,  1790.  See  also  Manning,  The  Nootka  Sound  Contro- 
versy, in  the  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1904, 
pp.  424,  428. 

'  Patriate  Frangaise,  May  12,  1790. 


144  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Mirabeau's  regard  for  the  practical  necessities  of  the  moment 
and  to  recognize  the  real  greatness  of  the  man.  Mirabeau's 
death  therefore  did  not  seem  to  him  an  unmitigated  calamity. 
Mirabeau,  he  wrote,  hated  despotism  more  than  he  loved  lib- 
erty. He  did  not  love  the  people,  he  never  really  knew  the 
people,  he  only  made  use  of  the  name  of  the  people,  in  order  to 
secure  his  own  purpose,  which  was  to  oust  the  ministers  and 
to  slip  into  their  place.  His  death  was  thus  a  good  thing  for 
liberty.^ 

Besides  foreign  affairs,  the  Assembly  assumed  control  of  the 
Church.  On  this  subject  Brissot  was,  in  the  main,  in  harmony 
with  the  majority  and  represented  moreover  the  radical  opin- 
ions which  might  be  expected  from  a  deist.  The  first  step  of  the 
Assembly  with  regard  to  the  Church  was  taken  on  the  4th  of 
August,  when  in  its  orgy  of  decrees  it  declared  the  tithes  paid 
to  the  Church  abolished  without  compensation.  This  case  was 
an  exception  to  Brissot's  general  agreement  with  the  policy  of 
the  Assembly  on  ecclesiastical  matters,  and  when  Sieyes,  who 
was  the  only  member  who  apparently  realized  that  the  Assem- 
bly was  merely  making  a  present  to  the  landholders,  raised  his 
voice  against  the  measure,  Brissot  was  the  sole  journalist  who 
ventured  to  support  him.^  With  the  pivotal  policy  of  the  As- 
sembly toward  the  Church,  the  assumption  of  the  church  lands, 
Brissot  was  in  full  sympathy.  The  Assembly  was  in  a  difficult 
position.  It  was  warned  not  to  imitate  the  monarchy  in  per- 
petual appeals  to  credit,  and,  at  the  same  time,  was  urged  to 
diminish  the  public  debt.  It  was  not  possible  to  borrow  or  to 
increase  the  taxes. ^   That  the  state  needed  the  wealth  of  the 

^  This  expression  of  opinion  was  most  pleasing  to  Madame  Roland.  In  a 
letter  to  Ban  gal  she  wrote:  "Tons  les  journalists  se  sont  emparh  de  sa  mort 
comme  (Tun  morceau  ■prScieux,  riche  et  pathStique  dont  chacun  tire  parti  suivant 
ses  talents.  Je  ne  connais  que  Brissot  qui  ait  eu  la  sagesse  d'eviter  Vidolatrie,  avec 
le  prudence  de  ne  pas  offenser  Vopinion."  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  257. 

2  "  Elles  [les  dimes]  sont  supprimSes  sans  indemnite  chez  V eccUsiastique  ;  un 
seul  mernbre  s'est  levS  centre  la  redaction  de  ce  dernier  article  seuicment,  et  il 
desoit  en  lui-meme :  lis  veulent  etre  libres,  ils  ne  savent  pas  ctre  justes."  Pa- 
triate Franqais,  August  13,  1789. 

*  Gomel,  Histoire  financiere,  i,  Introduction,  xxiv. 


A  JOURNALIST  145 

Church  was  thus  evident;  that  she  had  a  right  to  take  it  was 
more  doubtful.  But  to  Brissot  the  right  was  as  obvious  as  the 
need.  The  clergy,  he  declared,  quoting  the  speech  of  M.  Chasse, 
were  not  proprietors,  only  depositaries;  they  could  with  perfect 
propriety  be  paid  in  some  other  way  than  by  giving  them  the 
use  of  the  property.^  Furthermore,  the  church  property  had 
been  given  to  the  clergy  only  on  condition  that  they  were  useful 
to  society;  if  they  ceased  to  perform  useful  functions  they  could 
be  despoiled  of  it.^  These  arguments,  reinforced  by  the  very 
practical  one  of  financial  necessity,  prevailed,  and  the  property 
was  taken,  —  "assumed"  said  the  majority  of  the  Assembly, 
"confiscated"  said  the  Church. 

The  Assembly  had  thus  torn  down.  It  had  now  to  build  up, 
and  in  this  process  it  had  to  deal  with  questions  of  religion  and 
religious  tolerance,  as  well  as  with  ecclesiastical  organization. 
A  question  of  this  kind  first  came  up  in  connection  with  the 
declaration  of  rights.  Should  the  name  of  God  be  inserted  and 
God  be  declared  the  first  cause  of  all  those  rights?  Contrary  to 
what  proved  to  be  the  opinion  of  the  majority,  Brissot  argued 
against  it.  "God  is  indeed  the  first  cause  of  these  rights,  as  He 
is  of  everything,"  he  wrote;  "but  the  true  first  cause  of  the 
rights  of  man  is  man's  existence.  He  ought  to  be  free  because 
he  exists."  ^ 

A  more  serious  matter  from  the  practical  point  of  view  was 
that  brought  up  by  Dom  Gerle's  motion  that  the  Catholic, 
Apostolic,  and  Roman  religion  should  always  be  that  of  the 
nation.  This  was  clearly  a  violation  of  tolerance  and,  after  a 
stormy  debate,  was  rejected  as  such.  According  to  Brissot  even 
to  deliberate  on  such  a  proposition  was  a  crime.  "  To  say  that 
one  believes  in  the  Catholic  religion  is  to  make  a  profession  of 
faith;  but  to  authorize  only  that  religion,  is  to  interfere  with 
other  religions,  to  persecute  them;  it  is  to  force  people  to  be- 
lieve and  to  practice  Catholicism  alone;  and  such  intolerance 
is  a  crime  against  Christ  himself,  who  allowed  himself  to  be 

^  Patriate  Frangais,  October  24,  1789. 

2  Ibid.,  September  11,  1789.  3  /j^-j,^  August  20,  1789. 


146  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

crucified  and  who  crucified  no  one."  ^  And  consistently  with 
this  spirit  of  tolerance  he  argued  that  civil  rights  be  given  to 
Protestants,  Jews,  and  actors.  But  though  strongly  against 
the  establishment  of  the  Catholic  religion  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
others,  he  was  heartily  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  Church  as  the 
State  Church,  and  supported  the  radical  policy  involved  in  the 
election  of  the  bishops  and  priests  by  the  people,  the  regulation 
of  the  salaries  of  the  clergy  by  the  government,  and  the  demand 
from  every  priest  of  an  oath  to  support  the  civil  constitution 
of  the  clergy. 2  The  priest  was  a  state  functionary,  he  declared, 
and  quoted  Voltaire  to  the  effect  that  priests  in  the  state  were 
very  much  like  tutors  in  the  home,  agencies  for  teaching, 
preaching,  and  furnishing  a  good  example.^  He  even  went  so  far 
as  to  say  that  there  was  reason  in  the  idea  of  the  Quakers  in 
abolishing  the  priesthood  altogether.  At  the  same  time,  he 
admitted  that  ideal  as  that  might  be,  France  was  not  yet  ready 
for  such  a  step.  He  added,  however,  that  the  example  of  the 
Quakers  should  be  imitated  to  the  extent  of  proscribing  all  use- 
less priests,  in  which  number  he  included  all  archbishops  and 
bishops.  He  also  advocated  the  radical  policy  of  the  marriage 
of  the  clergy,  but  acknowledged  that  this  idea  must  be  pre- 
sented with  caution,  as  the  people  were  not  yet  educated  up 
to  it.^  At  all  events  he  would  do  away  with  monastic  vows, 
and  was  therefore  greatly  pleased  at  the  decree  suppressing 
religious  orders.^ 

Above  all,  he  preached  tolerance,  and  like  most  of  his  con- 
temporaries did  not  seem  to  realize  that  in  upholding  the  oath 
of  obedience  to  the  new  constitution  which  it  was  proposed  to 
require  of  the  clergy,  he  himself  might  be  guilty  of  rank  intoler- 
ance. To  take  this  oath  involving  adhesion  to  the  principle  of 
election  of  priests  without  any  confirmation  by  the  Pope,  was 
to  many  churchmen  a  violation  of  their  conscientious  scruples. 
The  Pope  certainly  regarded  it  as  such,  for  he  threatened  with 

^  Pafriote  Franqais,  April  13,  1790. 

2  Ibid.,  August  12,  13,  1789;  June  1,  1790.  '  Jhid.,  May  30,  1790. 

*  Ibid.,  June  1,  1790;  July  27,  September  4, 1792.     »  Ibid.,  April  7,  1792. 


A  JOURNALIST  147 

excommunication  all  ecclesiastics  who  took  the  oath.  The 
authority  of  the  Pope  Brissot  had  already  assailed  in  VAu- 
torite  legislative  de  Rome  aneantie,  published  a  few  years  be- 
fore.^ He  now  seized  the  occasion  to  bring  out  a  new  edition, 
entitled  Rome  jugee  et  Vautorite  legislative  du  pape  aneantie,  with 
a  new  preface  in  which  he  stated  that  he  proposed  "to  prove 
that  the  popes  are  only  usurpers,  total  strangers  to  French 
Christians,  and  that  for  free  Frenchmen  a  pope  who  excommu- 
nicated them  was  only  an  enemy  who  ought  to  be  punished  if  he 
had  any  power,  but  that  as  he  was  a  mere  phantom,  he  need 
only  be  scorned.  The  timid  fear  that  interdict ;  rogues  exagger- 
ate the  danger.  The  former  must  be  enlightened,  the  latter  un- 
masked." That  this  whole  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  Pope  and 
the  clergy  might  be  a  matter  of  conscience  Brissot  refused  to 
consider,  and  ridiculed  as  absurd  the  suggestion  of  Abbe  Maury 
that  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy  ought  to  have  the  sanc- 
tion of  a  national  council  or  of  the  Pope,  and  that  the  govern- 
ment "ought  not  to  violate  timorous  consciences."  ^  However 
much  matters  of  religion  seemed  to  the  clergy  to  be  involved, 
to  the  majority  of  the  Assembly  it  was  a  matter  of  political  im- 
port only.  Their  attitude  toward  the  Church  had  been  directed 
in  the  first  place,  not  by  any  burning  zeal  for  religion,  but  by 
the  need  of  money,  and  the  land  of  the  Chm-ch  had  been  taken 
not  with  the  idea  of  making  the  Church  less  secular,  but  as  a 
financial  resource  in  dire  distress.  To  oppose  the  new  organiza- 
tion which  had  been  devised  in  consequence  seemed  therefore 
to  Brissot,  as  to  many  other  revolutionists,  merely  perverse 
objection  to  the  principles  of  the  Revolution. 

On  the  financial,  as  well  as  on  the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  the 
Assembly,  Brissot  was  on  the  radical  side.  In  his  early  writings 
he  had  frequently  discussed  financial  questions,  and  he  now  had 
a  chance  to  make  his  influence  felt  directly  through  his  journal. 
He  accordingly  devoted  much  space  to  the  subject.  He  wished 

1  See  p.  36. 

2  Patriote  Franqais,  November  29,  1790.  See  also  issues  of  January  8,  19, 
24,  and  February  18,  1791. 


148  BEISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

to  get  rid  as  fast  and  as  far  as  possible  of  the  influence  of  the 
old  regime,  prevent  any  introduction  of  its  methods  into  the 
new  regime,  reduce  the  power  of  the  king  and  ministers  in  finan- 
cial matters  to  its  lowest  terms,  substitute  for  it  the  authority 
of  the  Assembly,  instead  of  temporary  expedients  for  raising 
money,  adopt  the  most  thoroughgoing  measures,  and  finally 
introduce  a  system  of  taxation  which  would  be  both  just  and 
democratic.  One  of  the  first  abuses  of  the  old  regime  to  which 
the  Assembly  turned  its  attention  was  that  of  pensions.  To 
Brissot  they  seemed  an  unmitigated  evil,  and  when  it  was  sug- 
gested that  a  pension  was  an  acquired  property,  and  that  to 
abolish  the  pension  without  restriction  might  be  a  violation 
of  the  declaration  of  rights,  he  expressed  great  astonishment. 
There  was  practical  agreement,  however,  that  the  pension  list 
should  be  revised,  but  when  it  was  proposed  that  the  revision 
should  be  made  by  the  executive  power  Brissot  again  uttered 
protest.  "  It  would  be  to  put  in  charge  of  curing  the  evil,"  he 
objected,  "the  very  persons  who  were  profiting  by  it."  ^  This 
objection  seems  to  have  had  some  influence,  for  when  the  law 
against  pensions  was  brought  forward  it  provided  that  the  revi- 
sion should  be  made  not  by  the  king,  but  by  a  committee  of  the 
Assembly.  With  this  decision  Brissot  was  greatly  pleased,  as 
also  with  the  further  clause  that  no  pension  or  salary  should  be 
paid  to  Frenchmen  who  had  left  the  realm  without  the  authori- 
zation of  the  government.' 

Of  the  general  financial  policy  of  the  ministry  as  represented 
by  Necker,  he  was  a  constant  and  severe  critic.  In  his  Observa- 
tions d'un  republicain  he  had  declared  that  Necker  was  not  a 
defender  of  the  people  but  an  upholder  of  despotism,  but  in  the 
Plan  de  conduite  he  had  in  a  measure  retracted  his  earlier  state- 
ments and  appealed  to  the  public  to  rally  to  Necker 's  support. 
He  now  apparently  went  back  to  his  former  opinion,  and  till 
the  retirement  of  Necker  in  September,  1790,  there  were  few 
numbers  of  the  Patriate  Frangais  in  which  he  did  not  assail  him 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  January  6,  1790.  *  Ibid. 

3  Gomel,  II,  16. 


A  JOURNALIST  149 

for  some  sin,  either  of  omission  or  commission.  He  criticized 
him  for  his  unwilUngness  to  produce  the  livre  rouge, ^  "that 
infernal  cavern,"  ^  to  use  Brissot's  own  term;  maintained  that 
in  face  of  the  decree  of  the  Assembly,  the  expenses  must  be 
reduced  sixty  millions  (Necker  had  declared  it  possible  to  re- 
duce them  only  thirty  millions) ;  found  fault  with  him  for  en- 
couraging the  lottery,^  and  objected  strenuously  to  his  plans 
for  transforming  the  caisse  d'escompte  into  a  national  bank.^ 
To  this  institution  Brissot  was  particularly  opposed.  The  As- 
sembly must  exercise  greater  control  over  it,  he  argued  both 
in  his  speech  before  the  municipal  council  and  in  his  journal;  on 
the  other  hand  it  must  not  accord  it  greater  privileges.  Brissot 
was  by  no  means  alone  in  his  hostility,  and  the  general  opposi- 
tion resulted  in  the  defeat  of  Necker's  plan,  and  in  demands  on 
the  caisse  d'escompte  on  the  part  of  the  Assembly  which  weak- 
ened what  credit  it  still  had.^  In  taking  this  step  the  Assembly 
weakened  a  source  of  its  own  support,  and  as  the  patriotic  con- 
tribution of  one  fourth  of  the  revenue,  from  which  much  had 
been  expected,  had  not  been  productive,^  the  government  was 
under  more  urgent  necessity  than  ever  for  providing  financial 
resource.  That  resource,  according  to  Brissot,  and,  as  it  proved, 
according  to  the  majority  of  the  Assembly,  was  to  be  found  in 
assignats  issued  on  the  church  lands.  In  the  measures  for  the 
sale  of  these  lands  Brissot  seems  to  have  been  more  prudent 
than  the  majority  of  his  fellow  politicians  and  journalists, 
and  even  at  the  risk  of  offending  his  constituency  urged  that 

^  The  book  of  secret  expenses  of  the  royal  government  under  Louis  XV  and 
Louis  XVI.  Patriote  Frangais,  April  22,  23;  May  2.  1790. 

2  Ibid.,  April  8,  1790. 

^  "Comment  peut-il  croire  a  l' existence  des  loteries  sovs  le  regne  de  Vordre 
public  ?  une  loterie  nest-elle  pas  le  jeu  le  plus  immoral,  le  plus  contradictoire  avec 
V esprit  et  les  mceurs  d'une  constitution  libre  et  d'un  peuple  qu'on  veut  regenerer  ? 
Le  profit  de  Vetat  sur  les  loteries  n'est-il  pas  un  vol  infame,  fait  a  la  partie  la  plus 
miserable  du  peuple  qu'on  abuse  ?  La  misere  a  du  faire  la  gabelle:  la  morale  doit 
faire  abolir  la  loterie."  Patriote  Frangais,  June  5,  1790. 

*  See  p.  103. 

5  Patriote  Frangais,  September  23,  October  3,  December  19,  1789;  also 
Gomel,  I,  516. 

6  Ibid.,  March  14,  1790. 


150  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  municipalities  renounce  a  share  of  the  rather  large  part  of 
the  proceeds  which  had  been  offered  them.^ 

He  not  only  supported  the  assumption  and  sale  of  church 
lands  by  the  state,  as  a  financial  measure,  but  was  also  enthusi- 
astic over  the  opportunity  it  offered  to  him  personally  to  fur- 
ther the  interests  of  an  association  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
promoters  and  probably  the  originator.  The  plans  for  this 
association  were  drawn  up  in  Brissot's  own  hand  and  appar- 
ently just  after  the  decree  of  November  18,  1789,  which  placed 
on  sale  the  property  of  the  Church. ^  The  plan,  which  showed 
the  influence  both  of  Rousseau  and  of  Brissot's  American  expe- 
rience, provided  for  an  association  founded  on  ideas  of  democra- 
tic equality,  something  after  the  style  of  the  Moravian  Breth- 
ren.^ It  was  to  be  called  the  Societe  agricole  ou  d'amis  and  was  to 
have  for  its  object  the  regeneration  of  society  by  means  of  rural 
education.  It  was  to  purchase,  in  the  first  place,  property  of 
sufficient  size  to  provide  for  about  twenty  families,  and  in  a 
locality  where  further  purchases  could  be  made  as  the  society 
grew.  In  order  to  fulfill  its  educational  purpose  its  members 
were  to  engage  in  teaching  a  system  of  the  purest  morality,  the 
simplest  religious  opinions,  and  manual  labor,  and  by  a  method 
entirely  different  from  that  which  was  usually  followed.  When 
the  society  was  well  established  it  was  to  undertake  such  manu- 
factures as  could  be  easily  carried  on  in  the  country.  It  was  also 
to  have  a  printing  establishment,  in  the  first  place  for  its  own 
use  and  in  the  second  place  for  extending  its  teachings  through- 
out France.  There  was  to  be  provided  further  a  common  li- 
brary and  a  common  meeting  place,  though  each  family  was  to 
have  its  own  house,  which  must  be  simple  and  without  unneces- 
sary luxury  or  ornamentation.  New  members  were  to  be  ad- 
mitted only  after  having  passed  through  a  novitiate  and  would 
be  required  to  subscribe  in  advance  to  the  form  of  government 

1  See  p.  103. 

^  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  n,  77.  See  also  Perroud,  Un  Projet  de  Brissot 
pour  une  Association  agricole,  in  La  RSvolution  franqaise,  March,  1902;  xlii, 
260-65. 

3  See  p.  89. 


A  JOURNALIST  151 

established.  Active  members  would  be  expected  to  subscribe 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  thousand  francs,  though  provision  was 
made  for  loaning  money  to  those  who  had  little  or  nothing,  and 
for  receiving  special  gifts  from  those  who  were  willing  to  give 
more  than  the  required  amount. 

The  ideas  set  forth  in  this  scheme  Brissot  communicated  to 
Lanthenas,  who  in  turn  explained  them  to  the  Rolands,  and 
they  in  turn  together  with  Champagneux,^  Blot,  and  Bangal  des 
Issarts,^  joined  in  planning  the  association.^  Brissot  meanwhile 
approached  his  friend  Robert  Pigott,  the  English  Quaker,  from 
whom  he  hoped  financial  backing  for  the  enterprise.  Of  all  his 
friends  Brissot  found  Lanthenas  his  most  active  supporter,  and 
during  the  fall  of  1790  they  had  much  correspondence  as  to 
ways  and  means.^  It  was  proposed  at  first  to  buy  property  in 
the  vicinity  of  Lyons,  but  Brissot  found  the  neighborhood  was 
too  aristocratic  and  recommended  purchase  elsewhere.  But 
apparently  before  any  purchase  could  be  made  the  ardor  of  his 
friends  began  to  cool.  Pigott,  on  whom  he  had  staked  his  hopes, 
withdrew;  Ban  gal  des  Issarts  departed  for  England,  not  im- 
probably with  the  motive  of  disengaging  himself  from  what  he 
had  evidently  come  to  regard  as  an  impracticable  scheme;  and 
even  the  enthusiastic  Lanthenas  ventured  to  express  doubt 
whether  Brissot  had  adequately  gauged  the  difficulties  of  the 
enterprise.^  Thus  another  of  Brissot's  schemes  for  brotherhood 
and  social  regeneration  came  to  an  end,  this  time  before  it  was 
even  inaugurated. 

Meanwhile,  Brissot  continued  to  fill  the  columns  of  the 
Patriote  Franqais  with  arguments  in  favor  of  the  assignats. 
The  assignats  were  very  different,  he  declared,  from  the  paper 
of  the  caisse  d'escompte.  There  would  be  much  more  confidence 
in  this  kind  of  paper,  bearing  interest,  based  on  the  goods  of 
the  clergy  and  other  property  of  the  state,  limited  in  purpose 

1  L.  A.  Champagneux,  the  friend  of  the  Rolands  and  editor  of  Madame 
Roland's  works. 

2  Correspondance,  252-53. 

'  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  743;  Appendix  O. 

*  Correspondance,  255.  ^  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  n,  179. 


152  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

and  in  quantity,  and  payable  at  a  fixed  time,  than  there 
would  be  if  it  were  connected  with  the  operations  of  a  dis- 
credited caisse,  whose  condition  was  unknown  and  whose  de- 
crees of  suspension  of  payment  proved  its  embarrassment.^ 
The  proposed  issue  of  four  hundred  millions  he  declared  too 
small,  and  urged  that  six  hundred  millions  was  not  too  much. 
In  spite  of  some  protests,  these  demands  prevailed  and  the 
assignats  were  voted,  though  the  amount  was  at  first  limited  to 
four  hundred  millions.  But  as  it  did  not  bring  the  money  ex- 
pected, another  issue  was  soon  called  for.  This  issue  also  Bris- 
sot  advocated  as  a  necessary  expedient  and  resented  any  sug- 
gestion of  evil  consequences.  He  reported  with  satisfaction 
that  the  chambers  of  commerce  of  Nantes  and  of  Bordeaux 
had  unanimously  demanded  it,  and  that  similar  bodies  in  other 
parts  of  France  were  going  to  take  like  action;  attacked  collec- 
tively and  by  name  opponents  of  the  measure,  including  Necker, 
Talleyrand,  and  Bergasse;  ^  retorted  to  the  objection  that  the 
assignats  could  not  be  used  in  foreign  commerce,  that  no  one 
claimed  they  could,  but  that  they  would  greatly  facilitate  it  by 
taking  the  place  of  coin  which  would  be  used  for  that  purpose. 
And  when  some  one  turning  to  Brissot's  favorite  example  ven- 
tured to  suggest  the  warning  that  might  be  drawn  from  the 
experience  with  paper  money  in  America,  he  declared  that  the 
cases  were  not  at  all  parallel.  The  American  money  had  no 
foundation;  was  issued  in  the  midst  of  war,  and  was  thirty  or 
forty  times  greater  than  the  coin  in  circulation;  as  for  the  as- 
sertion that  the  effect  of  paper  money  in  America  had  been 
to  raise  the  price  of  provisions,  he  replied  that  that  rise  was 
not  the  effect  of  paper,  but  of  doubled  consumption  and  less- 
ened production.  "How  can  any  one  have  the  bad  faith,"  he 
asked,  "to  compare  the  certificates  of  America,  founded  upon 
unsalable  land  lacking  purchasers  and  cultivation,  with  assig- 
nats based  on  lands  of  great  value  for  which  there  is  a  ready 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  December  18,  1789,  and  Discours  sur  la  raretS  du  nume- 
raire. 

2  Patriate  Franqais,  March  12,  May  17,  June  23,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  153 

sale?  "  ^  And,  when  coming  nearer  home,  the  example  of  Law's 
paper  money  was  cited,  he  again  replied  that  the  cases  were  not 
parallel,  and  forgetting  as  he  did  on  other  occasions  that  a 
change  in  the  form  of  government  did  not  change  the  laws, 
either  of  political  economy  or  human  nature,  added  that  the 
paper  of  Law  was  manufactured  by  despotism,  and  was  there- 
fore a  very  different  thing  from  the  assignats  issued  by  a  free 
nation. 2  In  spite  of  the  protests  from  Talleyrand  and  a  few 
others  who  foresaw  the  destruction  to  which  such  opening  of 
the  dikes  would  lead,  these  and  like  arguments  prevailed  and  a 
new  issue  of  assignats  was  voted. 

With  the  issue  of  the  assignats  the  control  of  the  finances 
passed  more  and  more  from  the  ministry  to  the  Assembly.  Of 
this  new  administration  Brissot  was  as  critical  as  he  had  been  of 
the  old.  On  January  21  he  published  an  open  letter  to  Camus,' 
in  which  he  censured  him  for  reporting  in  favor  of  the  claim  of 
the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  a  dot  promised  by  Louis  XV  to  the 
daughter  of  the  regent,  a  part  of  which  had  not  been  paid.  It 
would  be  like  giving  to  a  thief  the  little  that  remained  in  your 
purse  after  he  had  robbed  you,  and  would  hark  back  to  the 
methods  of  the  old  regime.  There  was  already  too  much,  he 
added,  of  that  spirit  in  the  operation  of  the  treasury.'* 

It  was  now  proposed  to  put  the  administration  of  the  treas- 
ury into  the  hands  of  a  committee  chosen  from  the  Assembly. 
When  a  like  proposition  had  been  made  by  Necker  a  year  be- 
fore, Brissot  had  vigorously  opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  mean  the  confounding  of  two  distinct  powers.^  Now, con- 
ditions having  changed,  he  was  in  favor  of  it,  and  in  the  face  of 
his  former  argument  declared  that  to  give  the  choice  of  the 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  April  10,  September  26,  1790.      -  Ibid.,  April  16,  1790. 

^  Armand  Gaston  Camus  (born  17-iO,  died  1804)  was  an  enthusiastic  sup- 
porter of  the  Revolution  and  a  deputy  of  Paris  to  the  States-General.  He  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  debates  on  financial  questions  and  was  one  of  the  chief 
advocates  of  the  ci^•il  constitution  of  the  clergy.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Convention,  and  of  the  committee  of  public  safety,  and  under  the  Directory 
was  offered  the  place  of  minister  of  finance. 

*  Letire  a  M.  Camus,  January  21,  1791. 

^  Patriote  Frangais,  March  17,  1790. 


154  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

administrators  to  the  legislative  body  instead  of  to  the  king 
would  not  make  the  legislative  body  in  any  sense  an  executive 
body,^  It  was  decreed,  however,  that  the  choice  should  be  made 
by  the  king.  With  the  personnel  of  the  committee,  as  well  as 
with  the  manner  of  choice,  Brissot  was  ill  satisfied,  because  it 
included,  he  was  convinced,  either  men  who  were  opposed  to 
the  assignats  or  who  knew  little  about  finance.  On  the  latter 
ground  he  ventured  to  criticize  even  Condorcet,  whom  in  most 
respects  he  greatly  admired,  and  published  a  letter  to  him  in 
the  Patriate  Frangais  in  which  he  calmly  told  him  of  his  short- 
comings for  the  position. 2  Lavoisier,  another  member  of  the 
committee  chosen  by  the  king,  he  criticized  because  of  his  offer 
to  serve  without  pay.  The  offer  was  actuated  by  the  best  mo- 
tives, he  admitted,  but  its  effect  would  be  to  humiliate  those 
who  had  to  depend  on  their  pay  for  their  livelihood.  Moreover 
it  was  not  seemly  under  a  free  government. 

In  all  economic  matters  Brissot  was  also  greatly  interested. 
If  in  things  political,  equality  was  his  watchword,  here  it  was 
liberty,  and  to  questions  where  liberty  was  in  any  way  involved 
he  gave  especial  attention,  such  as  the  price  of  grain,  its  free 
circulation,  the  provisioning  of  Paris,^  the  free  cultivation  of 
tobacco,  its  free  importation  or  at  least  low  duties  on  it,*  and 
the  extension  of  foreign  trade,  especially  with  America.^ 

But  the  subject  to  which  above  all  others  he  devoted  the 
columns  of  the  Patriote  Frangais  was  the  cause  of  the  negro. 
He  stood  for  his  liberation  from  slavery,  and  for  the  extension 
of  a  greater  measure  of  equality  to  the  mulattoes.  To  this  end 
he  supported  the  Amis  des  Noirs.  Indeed,  as  has  been  pointed 
out,  he  made  his  paper  the  organ  of  that  society,  upheld  its 
policy,  and  as  colonial  problems  occupied  more  and  more  atten- 
tion in  the  Assembly,  devoted  an  increasing  amount  of  space  to 
their  discussion.    In  fact,  most  of  the  controversies  in  which 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  March  10,  1791.  "  Ibid.,  AprO  10,  1791. 

3  Ibid.,  July  30,  August  7,  10,  18,  27,  September  12,  1789. 

4  Ibid.,  November  17,  1790;  January  30.  1791. 
»  Ibid.,  February  14,  15,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  155 

the  Patriate  Franqais  became  involved  either  with  individuals 
or  with  other  journals  grew  out  of  his  championship  of  the 
negro,  and  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs.  A  discussion  of  Brissot's 
attitude  on  this  subject  belongs,  however,  rather  with  the  his- 
tory of  that  society  than  with  his  influence  as  a  joiu*nalist. 


CHAPTER  VII 

brissot's  career  during  the  constituent  assembly 
as  a  journalist  —  le  patriots  fran9ais 

Part  H 
His  Attitude  toward  Popular  Movements  and  Public  Opinion 

The  work  of  the  Assembly,  both  in  the  formation  of  the 
constitution  and  in  the  administration  of  the  government,  was 
modified  and  profoundly  influenced  from  time  to  time  by  popu- 
lar movements.  Of  the  importance  of  such  movements  and 
of  their  influence  on  the  Assembly  Brissot  was  keenly  aware. 
What  was  being  done  and  said  outside  of  the  Assembly  was,  he 
realized,  of  the  greatest  moment,  and  he  gave  much  space  in 
the  Patriote  Frangais  to  its  discussion.  At  first  the  Assembly  had 
paid  little  attention  to  external  events  and  had  gone  calmly  on 
debating  a  declaration  of  rights,  syllable  by  syllable,  till  it  was 
brought  down  from  the  clouds  by  Salomon's  report.  The  result 
was  the  sudden  and  enthusiastic  vote  against  feudal  privi- 
lege of  every  description  known  as  the  "orgy"  of  the  4th  of 
August.  Although  Brissot  spoke  with  approval  of  the  "gener- 
ous enthusiasm "  of  the  privileged  classes,^  he  was  not  so  enthu- 
siastic over  this  particular  onslaught  on  depotism  as  might  have 
been  expected;  but  his  objection  was  not  to  the  decrees  them- 
selves, but  to  the  headlong  haste  with  which  they  were  passed, 
and  may  perhaps  have  been  colored  by  his  disappointment 
that  the  articles  voted  did  not  include  liberty  of  the  press. ^ 
In  his  opinion,  there  was  crying  need  of  another  constructive 
measure  which  ought  to  be  taken  without  waiting  till  the 
constitution  was  finished,  —  namely,  the  establishment  of  a 
provisional  national  tribimal.  "It  is  not  with  promises,"  he 
warned  the  Assembly,  "that  the  fury  of  the  people  can  be 
1  Patriote  Frangais,  August  6,  1789.  *  Ibid.,  August  7,  1789. 


A  JOURNALIST  157 

stopped.  They  clamor  for  deeds,  they  want  to  be  satisfied  im- 
mediately. Perhaps  if  such  a  tribmial  is  not  established  more 
blood  will  be  shed.  One  must  be  created  which,  in  the  midst 
of  chaos  and  anarchy,  will  execute  prompt  justice  upon  a  few 
agents  of  despotism,  and  thus  force  the  others  to  abandon  their 
posts."  1 

As  Brissot  predicted,  disorder  continued  and  culminated  in 
Paris  on  the  5th  and  6th  of  October,  when  a  mob  rushed  out  to 
Versailles,  insulted  the  dignity  of  the  Assembly,  broke  into  the 
palace,  murdered  members  of  the  king's  guard,  and  forced  the 
king  and  queen  to  remove  their  abode  to  Paris.  Lafayette,  who 
as  the  commander  of  the  national  guard  was  responsible  for 
order,  arrived  late  on  the  scene  and  eventually  quelled  the  dis- 
turbance, but  it  was  felt  by  many  people  that  if  he  had  acted 
with  promptness  and  vigor  the  outbreak  might  have  been 
prevented  altogether.  In  judging  of  this  unfortunate  affair 
Brissot  did  not  take  a  very  decided  or  radical  stand.  While  de- 
ploring the  acts  of  violence  and  the  shedding  of  blood,  he  was 
not  one  of  those  who  held  Lafayette  responsible,  but  on  the 
contrary  commended  his  "prudence  and  courage."  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  ComitS  des  Recherches  of  the  Commune  he  had  to  take 
action  against  the  alleged  instigators  of  violence,  but  at  the 
same  time  he  joined  his  fellow  members  of  the  committee  in  a 
declaration  that  in  taking  such  action  they  were  only  fulfilling 
their  duty  and  that  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  ulterior 
causes  —  which  was  equivalent  to  saying  that  they  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  movement  as  a  whole.^  Moreover,  this 
censure  was  rather  offset  by  the  fact  that  when  Brissot  wished 
to  show  that  the  people  were  really  not  "ferocious"  he  made 
the  singular  choice  of  the  events  of  October  5  and  6  as  an 
example  with  which  to  prove  his  point,  and  complacently  re- 
marked that  the  mob  did  not  do  all  the  harm  it  might  have 

^  According  to  Jaures  {Histoire  socialisfe,  i,  288)  Brissot's  criticism  was  from 
the  point  of  view  of  a  doctrinaire  and  a  pedant  who  wanted  long  discussion  of 
theories  and  not  immediate  action. 

^  Lacroix,  Les  Actes  de  la  Commune,  v,  134. 


158  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

done.  With  the  incidental  result,  the  transfer  to  Paris  of  the 
National  Assembly,  he  was  greatly  pleased.  In  his  Plan  de 
conduite  he  had  pressed  upon  the  States- General  the  advisabil- 
ity of  such  a  step,  and  now  that  it  was  taken  he  was  in  the  fore- 
front in  presenting  congratulations  and  promises  of  support 
on  the  part  of  the  municipality  of  Paris. ^ 

In  the  affair  of  Nancy,  when  many  of  his  fellow  citizens 
hesitated,  he  was  more  decided  and  was  one  of  those  who  ex- 
pressed open  sympathy  with  the  mutinous  soldiers.  The  revolt 
which  culminated  at  Nancy  grew  out  of  the  suspicion  with 
which  the  army  was  regarded.   A  large  part  of  the  Assembly 
doubted  its  adherence  to  the  Revolution  and  thought  of  it  as  a 
possible  means  by  which  the  king  might  reestablish  his  author- 
ity.   Influenced  by  their  fear  of  its  power  and  by  their  own 
ideas  of  fraternity  and  equality,  they  had  passed  various  de- 
crees which  were  utterly  destructive  of  discipline.   The  result 
was  disorganization  everywhere,  culminating  on  August  31, 
1790,  in  an  open  mutiny  at  Nancy  which  was  suppressed  by  the 
Marquis  de  Bouille.    The  Assembly  was  in  an  embarrassing 
position:  it  did  not  wish  to  uphold  what  might  be  considered 
a  despotic  exercise  of  power;  at  the  same  time  it  could  not 
encourage  mutiny,  even  though  that  mutiny  were  the  result  of 
its  own  action.   The  outcome  was  that  the  majority  officially 
approved  of  Bouille's  action;  but  a  considerable   minority, 
joined  by  many  outside  of  the  Assembly,  did  not  hesitate  to 
declare  that  the  mutinous  soldiers  had  right  on  their  side  and 
that  Bouille  had  been  guilty  of  an  act  of  tyranny.   Believing 
that  soldiers  were  justified  in  protesting  against  orders  of  which 
they  did  not  approve,^  even  this  illustration  of  the  result 
of  such  doctrine  did  not  open  Brissot's  eyes  nor  prevent 
him  from  criticizing  M.  Bouille  severely.    "The  triumph  of 
M.  Bouille,"  he  wrote,  "the  death  of  four  hundred  citizens, 
has  caused  general  indignation."  The  soldiers  were  rebels,  he 
admitted,  but  those  rebels  were  their  brothers,  and  the  blood  of 
their  brothers  should  be  shed  sparingly.   Bouille  ought  to  have 
1  See  p.  91.  ^  Pairiote  Frangais,  April  26,  1791. 


A  JOURNALIST  159 

reasoned  with  them  as  a  father,  and,  like  those  entrusted  with 
putting  down  Shays'  Rebellion  in  Massachusetts,  have  avoided 
the  shedding  of  blood  till  the  last  extremity.^  A  little  later 
he  expressed  himseK  even  more  emphatically,  laying  blame 
on  the  municipality  of  Nancy,  the  department,  M.  Bouille, 
and  the  Swiss  officers;  in  short,  on  every  one  but  the  soldiers. 
"Should  the  soldiers  be  blamed?"  he  demanded.  "Doubtless 
they  did  make  mistakes,  but  their  excuse  is  in  the  revolution, 
their  own  patriotism,  the  aristocracy  of  their  officers  and  the 
loyalty  with  which  they  are  inspired."  ^  For  the  time  being 
Brissot  was  in  advance  of  public  opinion  in  his  condemnation  of 
Bouille  and  represented  only  the  minority,  but  that  minority 
was  strong  enough  to  stop  the  persecution  of  Bouille's  French 
prisoners,^  and  eventually  Brissot's  point  of  view  prevailed,  and 
Bouille,  instead  of  being  honored  as  a  military  hero,  came  to  be 
popularly  regarded  as  a  cruel  tyrant  of  the  old  regime. 

Brissot's  decidedly  unmilitary  idea  of  discipline  was  again 
evident  in  the  matter  of  the  disobedience  of  the  soldiers  to 
Lafayette  when  they  prevented  the  king  from  going  to  Saint- 
Cloud,  on  April  18,  1791.  Passive  obedience,  he  admitted, 
might  be  necessary  for  discipline,  but  it  was  one  thing  to  obey 
blindly  orders  concerning  discipline  and  tactics,  and  quite 
another  thing  to  obey  commands  which  seemed  to  be  unjust, 
contrary  to  law  and  liberty.'* 

Brissot  was  indeed  a  thorough  democrat  in  his  sympathy 
with  the  people.  He  naturally,  therefore,  upheld  the  right  of 
petition  and  resented  any  hmitations  upon  it.  He  went  fur- 
ther, and  upheld  popular  movements  not  only  in  the  spe- 
cific cases  referred  to,  but  in  general.  "  The  instinct  of  the  people 
is  worth  more  than  all  your  dialectics, "  he  cried;  "it  has  saved 
you  ten  times  over  and  it  will  continue  to  save  you."  Popular 
movements  were  to  be  expected  and  desired  among  a  people 

1  Patriate  Franqais,  September  3,  4,  1790.         *  lUd.,  December  9,  1790. 
'  The  Swiss  soldiers,  however,  over  whom  the  jurisdiction  of  the  French  law 
did  not  extend  were  tried  by  court-martial  created  by  their  own  officers. 
*  Patriate  Frangais,  April  26,  1791. 


160  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

whose  constitution  was  not  yet  finished,  as  a  means  of  fright- 
ening conspirators  and  false  patriots,  and  especially  among  a 
people,  a  large  part  of  whom  were  excluded  from  a  share  in 
making  the  laws.  To  require  a  people  to  submit  without  ques- 
tion to  all  the  laws,  it  would  be  necessary  that  all  people  should 
have  a  share  through  their  representatives  in  making  the  laws. 
But  owing  to  the  distinction  between  active  and  passive  citizens 
half  of  France  was  not  represented,  was  in  a  state  of  subjection. 
When  that  half  once  realized  the  uselessness  of  petitions  as  a 
means  of  securing  redress,  insurrection  would  be  its  natural 
weapon.^ 

But  that  the  people  might  not  become  the  prey  of  unscrupu- 
lous agitators  they  needed  to  be  instructed.  He  therefore  wel- 
comed the  growth  of  popular  societies.  Such  societies,  the 
distinctive  feature  of  which  was  that,  unlike  the  Jacobin  Club, 
they  were  open  to  passive  as  well  as  to  active  citizens  and  to 
women  as  well  as  to  men,  began  to  come  into  existence  in  the 
autumn  of  1790,  and  by  the  spring  of  1791  they  were  numerous 
and  flourishing.  With  this  movement  Brissot  was  delighted 
and  did  all  in  his  power  to  encourage  and  foster  it;  he  published 
articles  by  Lanthenas  on  the  subject,  declared  that  such  organ- 
izations were  the  secret  of  peace  and  social  order,  and  urged 
their  establishment  everywhere. " 

Of  one  of  the  societies  —  that  at  Lons-le-Saunier  —  he  be- 
came the  special  champion.  Another  society  of  aristocratic 
character  had  been  formed  at  the  same  place,  and  both  claimed 
affiliation  with  the  Jacobins  at  Paris,  which,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Theodore  Lameth,  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter. 
Whereupon  Brissot  took  up  the  cudgels  in  behalf  of  the  demo- 
cratic society,  opened  the  columns  of  his  newspaper  to  their 
complaints,  and  attacked  Lameth  in  unsparing  terms.  The 
cause  of  the  democratic  society,  he  declared,  was  the  cause  of 

*  Patrioie  Franqais,  May  12,  1791.  See  also  Aulard,  La  Formation  du  parti 
republicain,  in  La  Revolution  frangaise,  xxxv,  318-22. 

2  Patriate  Franqais,  February  14,  1791.  Of  the  societies  for  women  he 
apparently  did  not  approve  unreservedly. 


A  JOURNALIST  161 

patriotism  and  of  justice.  Whoever  was  indifferent  to  the  com- 
plaints of  their  brave  brethren  of  Mont-Jm-a  was  unworthy  of 
liberty;  whoever  would  stifle  these  complaints  was  a  traitor  to 
patriotism,  ^ 

While  defending  popular  societies  in  general,  he  became  a 
member  of  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  such  societies  at 
Paris  —  the  Cercle  social.  This  society,  a  little  group  of  munici- 
pal politicians  gathered  around  Fauchet,  was  in  part  made  up 
of  the  former  representatives  of  the  Commune.  It  was  based 
on  a  kind  of  free-masonry,  and  was  somewhat  socialistic  as  well 
as  democratic  in  character.  With  the  idea  of  extending  its 
activities  it  proceeded  to  develop  an  organization  known  as  the 
Confederation  des  amis  de  la  v6rite,  whose  purpose  was  to  preach 
the  rights  of  man  as  an  end,  and  as  a  means  to  this  end  to  fur- 
ther universal  brotherhood. ^  In  spite  of  some  practical  work 
this  confederation  seems  to  have  been  too  theoretical  to  have 
altogether  satisfied  Brissot  with  his  never  quenched  desire  for 
active  propaganda;  and  with  the  aim,  apparently,  of  educating 
public  opinion  more  directly,  he  engaged  in  company  with  his 
friends,  Lanthenas,  Bangal,  and  the  Rolands,  in  trying  to  form 
a  federation  of  philosophers.  Like  his  previous  enterprises,  this 
was  not  to  be  primarily  a  money-making  scheme,  and  was  there- 
fore to  be  carried  on  by  such  persons  as  would  be  content  to  get 
only  a  bare  living  out  of  it,  and  would  concentrate  all  their 
energies  on  making  it  useful  to  humanity.^  As  in  the  Associa- 
tion agricole,  he  hoped  to  get  help  from  the  English  Quakers, 
and  here  again  he  found  in  Lanthenas  his  most  active  sup- 
porter.^ Lanthenas,  however,  feared  Brissot's  over-zealous 
ardor,  and  apparently  with  good  reason,  for  Brissot  in  his 

^  Patriofe  Frangais,  February  25,  March  13,  1791. 

2  Lacroix,  Les  Actes  de  la  Commune  de  Paris,  vii,  416,  452,  607. 

3  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  n,  253-59;  April,  1791. 

*  At  the  time  that  this  project  was  on  foot,  Madame  Roland  was  cor- 
responding with  Bangal  as  to  the  possibility  of  his  acting  as  agent  for  the 
Confederation  des  amis  de  la  verity  at  Paris,  and  forming  a  like  society  at  Lon- 
don, but  the  plan  seems  to  have  fallen  through.  It  is  possible  that  Brissot's 
plan  was  connected  with  this.  Lettres,  ii,  248,  262. 


162  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

anxiety  to  get  money  kept  running  after  Lafayette,  and  failed 
to  see  what  to  Lanthenas  seemed  self-evident,  that  Lafayette 
was  playing  with  him,  and  that  he  was  being  blinded  to  Lafay- 
ette's real  political  sentiments.^  This  accusation  is  naturally 
not  susceptible  of  proof,  but  at  all  events  Lafayette  appar- 
ently gave  him  no  money,  and  as  very  few  other  people  seem 
to  have  either,  the  enterprise  fell  through. 

In  connection  with  Brissot's  democracy  two  interesting  ques- 
tions arise:  did  it  extend  to  women,  and  was  it  socialistic  in 
character?  ^  As  to  the  first  question,  he  certainly  approved  of 
the  admission  of  women  to  the  popular  societies,  showed  his 
sympathy  with  a  society  of  women  known  as  the  Amies  de  la 
verite,  by  sending  them  a  letter  of  congratulation,  and  spoke 
with  satisfaction  of  the  women's  clubs  formed  at  Bordeaux, 
Allais,  and  Nantes.^  But  it  cannot  truthfully  be  said  that  he 
was  very  enthusiastic  on  the  subject.  The  place  of  woman,  he 
declared  apropos  of  Talleyrand's  outline  of  a  plan  for  national 
education,  was  in  the  home.  She  should,  therefore,  be  given  an 
education  which  would  suit  her  for  private,  not  for  public  life. 
His  inmost  feelings  on  the  subject  are  best  seen  in  his  memoirs, 
where  he  declared  that  a  woman  devoted  to  politics  seemed  to 
him  a  monster,  or  at  least  a  "prScieuse  ridicule"  of  a  new  kind.* 

As  to  the  socialistic  character  of  Brissot's  democracy,  the 
answer  is  not  so  easy.  No  scheme  for  the  suppression  of  private 
property  or  for  its  wholesale  redistribution  apparently  ever 
crossed  his  mind,  yet  some  of  his  ideas  might  be  characterized 
as  socialistic  in  the  broader  sense  of  the  term,  his  advocacy,  for 
instance,  of  the  abolition  of  primogeniture.  To  permit  this 
inequality  in  bequests  of  property,  he  wrote,  was  to  accumulate 

1  "Lanthenas  Scrivait  Mjh  h  Bangui  en  avril,  en  lui  exposant  ses  plans  de  pro- 
pagande  {Bib.  nat.  9534,  fol.  200-01):  Brissot  va  ce  matin,  chez  M.  Lafayette 
pour  eprovver  ses  intentions.  II  a  qffert  plusieurs  fois  l' argent  pour  quelque  entre- 
prise  qui  tendit  a  garantir  la  Constitution  centre  les  dangers  qui  de  tous  cotis  la 
menacent.  Si  nous  pouvons  le  determiner  pour  ce  projet  des  SociStes  populaires." 
Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  u,  273,  note. 

2  Lacroix,  Les  Actes  de  la  Commune  de  Paris,  vii,  622. 

»  Ihid.,  and  Patriate  Frangais,  April  1,  1791.  *  MSmoires,  i,  272-73. 


A  JOURNALIST  163 

property  in  the  hands  of  a  few  privileged  persons.  The  division 
of  property,  on  the  other  hand,  was  the  most  fruitful  source  of 
public  prosperity.^  Further,  he  was  a  constant  champion  of  the 
poor.  For  example,  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  finance, 
he  argued  for  the  small  assignat,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
needed  by  the  poor  workmen ;  ^  and  on  the  subject  of  taxation 
he  argued  against  the  octroi  because  it  weighed  with  especial 
heaviness  on  the  poor.'  Nor  did  he  hesitate  to  publish  an  ar- 
ticle Sur  le  peuple  in  which  the  vices  of  the  rich  and  the  virtues 
of  the  poor  were  frankly  contrasted,*  and  in  the  Patriote  Fran,' 
Qais  of  July  18,  1791,  he  declared  that  the  amount  of  money 
paid  in  taxes  by  the  poor  was  not  as  small  as  it  seemed;  that, 
on  the  contrary,  if  the  value  of  their  work  was  considered,  they 
really  paid  more  than  the  rich. 

Though  he  preached  no  immediate  change  in  fundamental 
social  relations,  he  would  do  away  at  once  with  undemocratic 
social  forms.  It  was  not  only  an  undemocratic  reminiscence  of 
past  distinctions,  he  maintained,  but  quite  useless  as  well  to 
address  your  letters  to  your  neighbor  "Monsieur"  or  "Ma- 
dame" and  to  sign  yourself  "his  most  humble  and  obedient 
servant."  It  would  even  be  better,  provided  one  could  change 
all  his  habits  at  once,  to  substitute  for  the  formal  second  person 
of  the  plural  the  tu  forms  of  the  singular.^  People  should  cer- 
tainly drop  the  aristocratic  de  from  their  names,  though  in 
order  to  avoid  confusion  the  patronymic  would  better  be  kept.® 
Not  even  the  king  should  be  excepted  in  this  abandonment  of 
aristocratic  titles.  The  king  was  no  longer  the  sovereign,  he 
declared;  he  should  therefore  not  be  given  the  name,^  while  to 
call  him  "Louis  by  the  grace  of  God"  was  positively  obnoxious, 
as  absolutely  out  of  harmony  with  the  acknowledged  fact  that 

^  Patriate  Franqais,  March  14,  1791;  also  August  14,  and  December  6,  1790. 

2  ibid..  May  6,  1790.  »  Ibid.,  February  13,  1791. 

4  Ibid.,  February  5,  1791.  «  Ibid.,  June  23,  1791;  also  July  4,  1790. 

®  Ibid.,  July  1,  1790.  Note  the  way  in  which  he  followed  his  own  advice. 
In  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  October  7,  1790,  he  gives  a  list  of  the  works  of 
"J.  P.  Brissot,"  then  below  in  smaller  type  is  printed  "ci-devant  de  Warville." 

''  Ibid.,  September  24,  1790. 


164  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Louis  was  king  solely  by  the  will  of  the  people.  ^  Indeed,  Brissot 
felt  so  strongly  on  the  matter  that  when  at  the  theater  people 
shouted,  "  Vive  le  roi,"  he  found  his  pleasure  completely  spoiled. 
One  comparatively  trivial  evidence  of  aristocratic  exclusiveness 
on  the  part  of  the  king  irritated  him  extremely,  namely,  that 
during  the  presence  of  the  king  at  the  Tuileries  the  garden  was 
kept  shut  till  one  o'clock,  and  when  it  was  open,  workmen  and 
people  shabbily  dressed,  or  carrying  packages,  were  not  allowed 
to  enter.  The  garden,  as  well  as  the  Champs  Elysees,  he  main- 
tained, should  be  freely  open  to  the  public  irrespective  of  occu- 
pation or  attire. 2 

Also  in  more  serious  matters  Brissot  wished  to  do  away  with 
the  privileges  accorded  to  the  king  and  to  reduce  him  to  a  plane 
of  democratic  equality  with  other  citizens.  He  rejoiced,  for 
example,  when  the  right  of  pardon  was  taken  from  him,^  ob- 
jected to  his  control  of  so  many  domains  ^  and  so  large  a  pension 
fund,  his  inviolability  as  a  private  citizen^  and  his  private 
guard.^  In  fact,  in  every  possible  way  and  in  the  strongest 
terms  Brissot  showed  his  desire  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  king. 

But  did  he  wish  to  do  away  with  the  king  altogether?  He 
was  a  thorough  democrat,  but  was  he  also  a  republican?  To 
compare  his  utterances  on  this  subject  at  various  times,  as  his 
opponents  were  not  slow  to  do,  would  make  him  out  to  be  both 
changeable  and  inconsistent,  but  a  closer  examination  shows 
that  while  he  was  invariable  in  his  adherence  to  republicanism 
as  the  best  government  in  theory,  he  only  varied  in  his  opinion 
as  to  its  immediate  practicability.  Hence  he  is  found  at  one 
moment  proclaiming  the  advantages  of  a  republic  —  especially 
one  like  the  United  States  —  and  the  next  supporting  mon- 
archy. For  instance,  his  pamphlet  on  systems  of  provincial 
administration  proposed  by  Necker  and  Turgot,  he  boldly  en- 
titled Observations  d'un  republicain,  and  in  it  did  not  hesitate 
to  declare  that  thoroughgoing  reform  was  impossible  under  a 

1  Patriote  Franqais,  October  10,  1789.  ^  Ibid.,  August  29,  1790. 

3  Ibid.,  June  5,  1791.  *  Ibid.,  August  20,  1790. 

6  Ibid.,  December  23,  1790;  March  30,  1791.     ^  Ibid..  November  12,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  165 

monarchy.  But  when  once  the  monarch  gave  serious  evidence 
of  a  willingness  to  further  reform  by  calling  the  States-General, 
Brissot,  with  other  theoretical  republicans,  seems  to  have  real- 
ized that  the  "half  might  be  better  than  the  whole,"  and 
stopped  talking  about  republicanism.  If  the  king  were  really 
in  earnest,  he  held  that  it  might  be  well  to  give  him  a  chance, 
and  both  in  the  prospectus  to  his  journal  and  in  his  Pla7i  de 
conduite  he  spoke  of  the  king  as  the  "friend  of  the  people,"  and 
of  the  States-General  as  the  "support  of  monarchy."  It  is  to 
be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  in  writing  these  pamphlets  he 
was  anxious,  on  the  one  hand,  not  to  offend  the  government, 
whose  sanction  he  needed  for  his  newspaper;  nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  people,  whose  votes  he  wanted  for  his  election. 

As  the  Revolution  progressed  he  not  only  continued  his  criti- 
cism of  the  prerogatives  of  royalty  but  became  more  open  in 
again  stating  his  admiration  for  the  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment, as  such.  "  I  hate  royalty,"  he  wrote  in  the  Patriote  Fran- 
gais  of  September  24, 1790,  "and  I  have  hated  it  from  the  mo- 
ment I  began  to  reflect.  Nothing  seems  to  me  more  degrading 
to  man.  I  adore  the  republican  government,  but,"  he  added, 
"  I  do  not  believe  the  French  are  worthy  yet  of  this  holy  re- 
gime." He  would  not  for  a  moment  admit,  however,  that  they 
could  not  become  ready  for  it,  and  when  Clermont-Tonnere  up- 
held monarchy  as  in  itself  the  best  form  of  government,  Brissot 
attacked  him  almost  with  rage.  Since  France  had  now  a  repre- 
sentative legislative  body  and  elective  judges,  it  was  republican, 
Brissot  declared,  in  two  thirds  of  its  elements,  and  could  not, 
therefore,  any  longer  be  considered  a  monarchy  at  all,  in  the 
sense  meant  by  the  monarchists.  He  then  took  up,  one  after  the 
other,  the  statements  of  Clermont-Tonnere,  and  denied  in  the 
first  place  that  a  monarchy  was  necessary  to  the  prosperity  of 
France;  in  the  second  place,  that  the  extent  of  its  territory  pre- 
cluded the  establishment  of  a  republic;  and  in  the  third  place, 
that  the  national  character  was  unsuited  to  a  republic.  He  main- 
tained, on  the  contrary,  that  France  was  in  slavery  under  the  old 
regime;  that  she  was  now  only  half  free,  and  that  she  would 


166  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

never  be  wholly  free  as  long  as  she  had  a  king;  that  this  doc- 
trine, far  from  being  abominable,  was  the  only  one  in  conformity 
with  reason,  religion,  and  a  sane  policy;  and  that  it  was  the  doc- 
trines of  Clermont-Tonnere,  on  the  contrary,  which  were  cruel 
and  degrading  to  the  human  race  and  which  deserved  to  be 
called  abominable.  But  even  while  upholding  republicanism 
with  almost  unseemly  ardor,  Brissot  did  not  advocate  the  im- 
mediate establishment  of  a  republic.  A  little  later,  in  defend- 
ing Robert's  ^  famous  pamphlet  Le  Republicanisme  adopte  a  la 
France,  he  expressed  himself  with  more  calmness.  "That  the 
republican  government  is  preferable  to  monarchy,"  he  wrote, 
"is  a  statement  that  is  doubted  only  by  people  who  have 
no  initiative,  by  the  weak,  the  unthinking  and  corrupt;  but 
whether  the  republican  government  can  be  adapted  alike  to  all 
countries,  to  all  peoples,  is  a  problem  very  difficult  to  solve. 
There  is,  in  France,  too  much  ignorance,  too  much  corruption, 
too  many  cities  and  manufactures,  too  many  men  and  too  little 
land.  ...  I  scarcely  believe  that  republicanism  could  maintain 
itself  side  by  side  with  these  causes  of  degradation."  But,  while 
admitting  that  personally  he  did  not  consider  France  ready  for 
a  republic,  he  declared  that  whenever  the  people  themselves 
were  convinced  that  it  was  time  to  abolish  the  monarchy  and 
set  up  a  republic  they  had  a  perfect  right  to  do  so,  and  that 
consequently  Robert,  or  any  one  else,  was  free  to  preach  repub- 
licanism. Moreover,  to  deny  that  right,  he  asserted,  was  to 
make  the  declaration  of  rights  a  dead  letter.  ^ 

In  spite  of  this  explanation,  Brissot  was  soon  accused  by 
Choderlos  de  Laclos  in  the  Amis  de  la  constitution  of  being 
guilty  jointly  with  Robert  of  preaching  republicanism.  "Our 
constitution,"  declared  Choderlos,  "has  two  kinds  of  enemies 

1  Pierre  Frangois  Joseph  Robert  (born  in  1763,  died  in  1826)  was  an  active 
member  of  the  Club  of  the  Cordeliers,  secretary  to  Danton  during  his  ministry, 
and  afterward  a  member  of  the  Convention.-  He  was  accused  by  the  Girondins 
of  buying  up  a  quantity  of  rum  contrary  to  the  law,  and  eight  casks  found  in 
his  cellar  were  confiscated.  In  consequence  of  this  affair  he  was  dubbed  with 
the  name  of  "Robert  Rhum." 

'  Patriote  Frangais,  December  19,  1790. 


A  JOURNALIST  167 

in  France :  the  one  wish  a  democracy  and  no  king,  the  others  a 
king  and  no  democracy.  Messrs.  Robert,  Brissot,  etc.,  write  for 
the  first."  ^  In  answer,  Brissot  did  not  deny  that  he  beheved 
royalty  was  a  curse,  "but,"  he  maintained,  "to  hold  that  opin- 
ion as  a  matter  of  political  philosophy  and  in  practice  to  reject 
the  king  adopted  by  the  constitution  were  two  entirely  different 
things."  2 

Such  an  attitude  might  well  give  opportunity  to  those  who 
were  looking  for  ground  for  criticism.  Brissot,  they  could  de- 
clare with  some  point,  was  trying  to  be  on  both  sides  of  the 
fence  at  once,  only  waiting  the  course  of  events  to  take  his 
stand  openly  with  the  winning  side.  His  attitude  toward  the 
whole  affair  of  April  18  was  a  case  in  point.  The  king  on 
that  day  had  essayed  to  go  out  to  mass  at  Saint-Cloud,  but 
had  been  prevented  by  the  national  guards  who  had  refused  to 
obey  Lafayette's  command  to  allow  the  king  to  proceed.  La- 
fayette had,  thereupon,  handed  in  his  resignation,  but  on 
pressure  had  withdrawn  it.  In  commenting  on  this  event,  Bris- 
sot asserted  that  the  soldiers  were  right  in  disobeying  Lafay- 
ette but  that  Lafayette  was  at  fault  in  resigning.  His  resig- 
nation, he  added,  was  a  real  calamity.'  These  opinions  fell 
under  the  sharp  eyes  of  Desmoulins,  who  criticized  them 
severely,  adding  significantly  that  Brissot  was  not  alone  in 
asserting  that  the  resignation  of  Lafayette  was  a  calamity,  as 
that  was  just  what  the  aristocratic  journals  were  saying.'* 

In  reality,  however,  Brissot,  in  spite  of  his  leaning  toward 
Lafayette,  was  on  the  side  of  the  people  against  the  king,  but 
during  the  next  few  weeks  he  seems  to  have  made  up  his  mind 

*  No.  19,  given  in  Bnchez  et  Roux,  as  quoted  by  Brissot,  ix,  433-41. 

2  Patriote  Frangais,  April  9,  12,  1791.  »  Ibid.,  April  22.  1791. 

*  Revolutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant,  no.  74.  Desmoulins  quotes  Brissot  as 
saying  that  the  soldiers  were  right  in  disobeying,  that  a  general  who  was  dis- 
obeyed ought  to  resign,  and  that  Lafayette  was  wrong  in  resigning.  Such  a 
statement,  as  Desmoulins  pointed  out,  involved  a  flat  contradiction.  What 
Brissot  actually  said  was:  " M.  Lafayette  a  donne  sa  demission  de  commandant- 
general.  II  a  Ste  desobei  par  ses  troupes,  et  vn  general  desobei  doit  quitter  :  voildi 
son  motif;  nous  crayons  qu'on  a  eu  raisonde  desobeir  a  M .  Lafayette;  nous  croyona 
quil  a  eu  tort  de  donner  sa  demission."  Patriote  Franqais,  April  22,  1791. 


168  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

more  firmly  to  support  the  monarchial  constitution,  and,  on 
June  9, 1791,  he  expressed  himself  emphatically  on  the  subject. 
After  stating,  as  he  had  done  before,  his  belief  in  a  republic  as 
the  ideal  form  of  government,  he  added:  "As  for  the  present 
state  of  things,  I  regard  as  criminal  every  man  who  does  not 
submit  to  the  constitution  decreed  and  who  thinks  of  changing 
any  part  of  it  whatever  by  other  than  constitutional  means." 
The  flight  to  Varennes  considerably  modified  these  views. 
Suspicion,  which  had  been  grave  smce  the  18th  of  April,  was 
now  transformed  into  certainty.  There  could  no  longer  be  any 
doubt  that  the  king  was  opposed  to  the  Revolution.    Some  de- 
cisive action  must  be  taken  at  once  in  regard  both  to  the  king 
and  to  the  constitution.  As  to  what  that  action  was  to  be  there 
was  wide  difference  of  opinion.    The  Assembly  was  divided. 
Some  wished  to  try  the  king;  others  proposed  to  follow  the 
principle  of  the  English  law,  which  was  embodied  in  the  nearly 
finished  constitution,  that  the  king  can  do  no  wrong,  and  try 
only  his  subordinates.  Some  members  of  the  Assembly  felt  that 
the  king  was  in  a  measure  justified  in  his  refusal  to  submit  to  a 
constitution  which  had  reduced  his  power  to  so  extremely  nar- 
row limits,  and  that  the  real  remedy  was  to  be  found  in  so 
altering  the  constitution  that  it  would  give  him  real  power.  To 
others  this  seemed  virtual  suicide  to  the  Revolution.  The  king, 
they  argued,  had  proved  that  he  could  not  be  trusted  and  he 
must  be  deposed,  if  only  to  prevent  further  mischief.  And  not 
only  this,  but  the  form  of  the  government  must  be  changed. 
There,  for  the  first  time,  a  republic  was  suggested  as  an  imme- 
diate practical  solution. 

In  this  crisis,  which  promised  the  fulfillment  of  his  long-cher- 
ished republican  ideas,  what  was  Brissot's  attitude?  On  the 
news  of  the  king's  flight  he  hurried  off  to  the  home  of  his  friend 
Petion  where  he  met  Desmoulins,  Robespierre,  and  Madame 
Roland,  all  gathered  in  great  excitement.  Robespierre,  accord- 
ing to  Madame  Roland,  was  sure  that  the  royal  family  had  not 
fled  without  the  help  of  a  formidable  party  in  Paris  and  that 
they,  the  patriots,  might  all  expect  to  be  murdered  in  a  second 


A  JOURNALIST  169 

St.  Bartholomew.  Petion  and  Brissot,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
dehghted;  they  were  sure  the  king  had  effectually  destroyed 
any  remnant  of  authority  he  might  still  possess,  and  had  made 
it  evident  beyond  a  doubt  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  consti- 
tution. Here,  therefore,  was  their  opportunity  to  make  a  bet- 
ter one  and  to  prepare  people  for  a  republic.^  Some  one  appar- 
ently suggested  that  Lafayette  might  have  to  be  reckoned  with, 
but  Brissot,  still  unheedful,  in  spite  of  Desmoulins's  warnings,  of 
the  attitude  of  Lafayette  toward  the  king  on  the  18th  of  April, 
declared  that  if  Lafayette  had  favored  the  flight  of  the  king, 
it  was  with  the  express  purpose  of  giving  France  a  republic.^ 
Meanwhile,  the  capture  of  the  king  put  another  face  on  the 
situation.  Robespierre  was  greatly  reheved,  but  to  the  others 
it  meant  the  return  of  the  main  source  of  trouble,  with  resulting 
complication  and  intrigue. 

Brissot,  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  repub- 
lican party,  was  one  of  the  first  to  be  accused  of  republican 
conspiracy.  Li  company  with  Claviere  he  was  charged  with 
having  sent  out  messengers  on  the  25th  of  June  to  all  the  eighty- 
three  departments  bearing  dispatches  calculated  to  stir  up  the 
people  in  favor  of  republicanism.  This  accusation  Madame 
Roland  indignantly  denied.  At  the  same  time  she  was  not 
satisfied  with  Brissot's  attitude  in  the  Patriote  Franqais,  evi- 
dently because  it  was  not  republican  enough.^  To  be  sure,  he 
had  seized  the  occasion  of  the  king's  flight  to  attack  the  moder- 
ate party  in  the  most  severe  terms.  He  did  not  use  the  word 
republican,  but  his  implication  was  evident  enough.  "  Will  they 
still  come  to  us,"  he  asked  in  the  Patriote  Franqais,  of  June  22, 
"with  their  enthusiastic  boasts  of  the  good  faith  of  kings? 

*  Memoires  de  Madame  Roland,  i,  205,  note. 

*  Desmoulins  in  no.  82  of  Les  Revolutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant  says, 
apropos  of  the  arrival  of  the  courier  from  Varennes:  "  La  scene  change.  Brissot, 
qui  trois  hemes  auparavant  me  disait  chez  Petion,  soyez  sur  que  si  Lafayette  a 
favorise  Vevasion  du  roi,  cest  four  nous  donner  la  republique,  Brissot  ne  peut 
plus  nous  endormir  de  ce  conte  bleu,  puisque  Bouille  son  cher  cousin,  son  complice 
ne  conspiroit  pas  sans  douie  pour  la  democratie." 

»  Lettres,  ii,  311-12. 


170  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Will  they  vaunt  the  patriotism  of  our  king,  his  attachment  to 
the  constitution?  Citizens,  you  were  all  there,  you  heard  the 
speeches  made  by  the  king  to  the  National  Assembly  and  the 
democratic  Manifesto  which  he  sent  to  all  the  courts  of  Europe. 
People  put  confidence  in  these  fine  protests;  it  was  a  crime  even 
to  doubt  the  word  of  a  king.  Ah,  well!  that  patriotic  king  has 
fled!  Louis  XVI  has  himself  broken  his  crown.  .  .  .  We  must 
not  merely  half  profit  by  the  lesson."  The  next  day  Brissot 
wrote  again:  "A  king  after  such  perjury  is  not  compatible  with 
our  constitution."  Even  in  speaking  of  the  flight  he  would  have 
no  terms  used  which  might  suggest  a  palliation  of  the  offense, 
such  as  the  proposed  statement  that  the  "king  had  been  car- 
ried off."  He  approved,  instead,  the  more  equivocal  phrase 
which  was  substituted,  "that  he  had  deserted  the  realm."  ^ 
But  Madame  Roland  wanted  not  merely  comment  on  facts, 
but  definite  expression  as  to  a  constructive  policy.  This  criti- 
cism evidently  had  weight  with  Brissot,  for  the  next  day  he 
spoke  with  greater  frankness  and  won  the  approving  comment 
from  Madame  Roland  that  he  was  doing  better.^  "It  is  evi- 
dent," he  wrote,  "that  the  king  cannot  possibly  be  the  king  of 
the  new  constitution.  Even  if  he  wanted  to  be  now,  even  if  he 
appeared  to  repent,  to  regret  his  perjury,  to  acknowledge  his 
crime,  would  it  do  to  allow  him  to  keep  the  crown?  ^  Would 
there  not  be  danger  still,  that  some  day  when  he  had  sufficient 
force  under  his  control,  he  might  declare  that  his  repentance 
was  forced,  and  retract  it?  "  Brissot  regretted,  he  went  on  to 
say,  that  republicanism  had  not  as  many  friends  as  might  be 
expected.  He  wondered  too,  he  added,  why  people  were  un- 
willing to  give  its  real  name  to  a  condition  which  practically 
existed. 

Besides  preaching  republicanism  in  his  own  journal,  Brissot 
was  actively  interested  in  trying  to  establish  a  new  journal 
which  was  to  have  the  defense  of  republicanism  as  its  sole 

^  Patriate  Franqais,  June  24,  1791. 

2  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  n,  314;  June  25,  1791. 

^  Patriote  Frangais,  June  25,  1791. 


A  JOURNALIST  171 

purpose.  The  project  grew  out  of  discussions  among  the  lit- 
tle republican  group  which  was  accustomed  to  gather  at  the 
home  of  Petion  to  talk  over  the  situation.  It  included,  be- 
sides Brissot  and  Petion,  Condorcet,  Claviere,  Buzot,  Thomas 
Paine,  and  Du  Chastellet.^  Of  this  group  Du  Chastellet  seems 
to  have  been  the  most  enthusiastic  and  the  most  ready  to  take 
revolutionary  action.  As  a  result  of  his  ardor  the  members 
of  the  National  Assembly  were  surprised  one  morning  to  find 
posted  up  at  the  doors  and  in  the  corridors  of  their  place  of 
meeting  the  following  prospectus  drawn  up  by  Thomas  Paine, 
but  signed  by  Du  Chastellet :  ^  — 

"The  perfect  tranquilhty,  the  mutual  confidence  which 
reigned  among  us  during  the  flight  of  the  former  king,  the  pro- 
found indifference  with  which  we  have  seen  him  brought  back, 
are  the  unequivocal  signs  that  the  absence  of  a  king  is  worth 
more  than  his  presence,  and  that  he  is  not  only  a  superfluity  but 
a  very  heavy  bm-den  which  weighs  upon  the  entire  nation.  .  .  . 

"Animated  by  the  ideas  expressed  above,  a  Society  of  Repub- 
licans has  resolved  to  publish  in  detached  sheets  a  work  under 
the  title  of  Le  Republicain.  Its  object  is  to  give  people  informa- 
tion upon  this  republicanism,  which  is  calumniated  because 
it  is  not  understood;  upon  the  uselessness,  the  vices  and  the 
abuses  of  royalty  which  prejudice  is  obstinate  in  defending, 
although  they  are  understood." 

According  to  Dumont,  Du  Chastellet  in  posting  this  notice 
was  acting  on  his  own  responsibility  and  did  not  have  the 
approval  of  the  rest  of  the  group;  but  as  Dumont  evidently 
wished  to  minimize  his  own  part  he  is  perhaps  not  to  be  cred- 
ited.3  At  all  events,  the  moderates  in  the  Assembly  regarded 
it  as  a  most  audacious  proceeding  and  threatened  to  bring 
the  authors  before  the  courts.^  In  spite  of  this  threat,  several 

1  Achille  Du  Chastellet  (bom  1759,  died  1794),  a  distinguished  oflBcer 
closely  connected  with  Brissot  and  the  Girondins. 

2  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  321-26;  also  Madame  Roland,  M6moires,  i,  204r-05, 
and  notes. 

'  Souvenirs,  chap.  xvi. 

*  Memoires  de  Madame  Roland,  i,  204-05,  note. 


172  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

numbers  were  published,  but  with  the  reestablishment  of  the 
king  the  pubhcation  naturally  came  to  an  end.^  As  long  as  it 
lasted  Brissot  gave  it  his  full  support  in  the  Patriute  Fran^ais, 
quoted  in  full  the  prospectus,  derided  the  demand  of  Malouet 
that  its  authors  be  haled  before  the  courts,  and  printed  the 
letter  of  Du  Chastellet  in  reply  to  his  critics.^ 

Meanwhile  he  was  constantly  publishing  other  material  most 
suggestively  republican,  such,  for  example,  as  an  address  of 
Bangal  at  Clermont  in  which  the  latter  declared  that  liberty 
was  incompatible  with  an  hereditary  monarchy;  ^  an  article  on 
the  abolition  of  royalty  at  Athens,  which  pointed  out  that  its 
partial  failure  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  first  archon  was 
the  eldest  son  of  the  king;  ^  and  the  announcement  of  a  prize 
of  three  hundred  livres  for  the  person  who  could  prove  that  a 
republican  and  a  free  citizen  were  not  two  inseparable  things.^ 
He  continued  also  himself  to  wTite  in  defense  of  republicanism, 
spoke  in  highest  terms  of  Condorcet's  speech  on  republicanism 
before  the  Cercle  social  on  July  9,«  and  hotly  resented  the  sug- 
gestion afterward  the  basis  of  most  violent  attacks  on  the 
Girondins  —  that  to  make  France  a  repubUc  was  to  make  it  a 
federation  of  eighty-three  republics.' 

However,  he  soon  began  to  realize  that  public  opinion  was 
not  ripe  for  so  radical  a  change,  and,  while  continuing  to  defend 
republicanism  with  vigor,  he  gradually  moderated  his  demands 
as  to  the  immediate  action  to  be  taken,  and  skillfully  suggested 
that  if  it  were  thought  that  France  were  not  ready  for  a  repub- 
lic in  its  complete  form,  the  essentials  of  that  kind  of  govern- 
ment might  be  gained  m  another  form.  "  If  you  keep  royalty," 
he  wrote,  "let  the  executive  council  be  elective,  chosen  by  the 
departments  and  removable.  We  shall  gain  all  if  this  point  is 
gained  and  liberty  will  no  longer  be  in  danger.  .  .  .  This  is  the 

1  Souvenirs,  chap.  xvi.  According  to  Dumont  the  republicans  went  so  far 
in  their  attack  on  monarchy  that  they  changed  an  article  he  sent  them  from 
London,  -with  the  view  of  making  it  more  radical. 

2  Pafriote  Fran^ais,  July  i  and  4,  1791.  '  Ibid.,  July  3,  1791. 
4  Ibid.,  Julv  9,  1791.  ^  Ibid.,  July  4,  1791. 
6  Ibid.,  July  17,  1791.                                        '  Ibid.,  July  9,  1791. 


A  JOURNALIST  1*^3 

idea  which  seemed  to  win  the  support  of  the  majority  of  the 
Jacobins.  It  was  proposed  at  first  by  M.Danton.  TheJacobnis 
are  willing  to  have  a  king  only  on  this  condition.  At  the  same 
time  they  are  not  willing  to  be  thought  republicans.  Let  us  not 
dispute  over  terms.  I  ask  for  no  better  republic  than  such  a 
monarchy.  The  Jacobins  are  republicans  without  kuownig  it. 
Like  M.'jourdain  they  make  prose  without  being  aware  of  it. 
No  matter!  The  prose  is  excellent."  '  A  day  or  two  later  Bris- 
sot  repeated  this  suggestion  in  modified  form.  Let  the  king  be 
dethroned  temporarily  by  the  Assembly,  which  would  then  ap- 
peal to  the  primary  assemblies  on  the  question  of  his  perma- 
nent dethronement.  The  crown  would  then  pass  to  his  son.  a 
minor,  who  should  be  given  an  elective  council  chosen  by  the 
departments.-  . 

Again,  going  back  to  the  idea  of  retaining  the  king  himselt, 
he  set  forth  his  general  idea  in  a  series  of  articles  entitled  "La 
jrrofession  de  foi  sur  la  monarchie  et  mr  le  rcpuhlicarnsmer 
which  api^eared  first  in  the  Pafriofe  Fran^ais  and  was  subse- 
quentlv  republished  in  pamphlet  form.'   It  was  an  extremely 
skillful  piece  of  work,  well  calculated  to  conciliate  the  ()pposi- 
tion  and  to  present  republicanism  in  its  best  light.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  profession  as  showing  Brissot's  views  at  this  critical 
time  justifies  quotation  at  length.   He  began  ])y  declaring  that 
the  monarchists  and  the  republicans  were  really  in  closer  agree- 
ment than  people  thought.  They  wanted  peace  and  good  order, 
and  it  onlv  needed  a  frank  discussion  to  show  how  much  they 
had  in  common.  He  then  proceeded  to  define  a  republic  as  a 
government  in  which  all  the  powers  were  representative,  that 
is  to  say,  delegated;  all  the  authorities  temporary  or  removable 
and  elected  bv  the  people  directly  or  indirectly.   Taking  this 
definition  as  a  basis  he  declared  that  five  sixths  of  the  authori- 
ties provided  by  the  constitution  were  already  representative, 
elective,  and  removable,  and  that  the  last  sixth  (the  king)  was, 

1  Patriate  Franqau,  June  29.  1791.  '  ^K\^f^\  ^'  Vp^  i-m      nM 

»  It  originally  appeared  in  the  Patriate  Franqais  of  July  5  and  G,  1/91,  and 
was  republished  in  pamphlet  form  under  date  of  July  17. 


174  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

by  a  fiction  of  the  law,  also  representative  and  elective.  The 
only  question  which  divided  the  monarchists  and  tlie  republi- 
cans was  whether  the  last  sixth  should  be  made  representative 
in  reality.  The  republicans  said  yes;  the  monarchists,  no. 

"The  republicans  believe,"  he  continued,  "that  royalty  can 
be  and  ought  to  be  abolished  immediately.  It  can  be  abolished, 
they  say,  without  violating  the  decree  which  preserves  the 
monarchy,  because  a  monarchy  can  exist  without  an  hereditary 
king.  Again,  it  can  be  done  without  violating  that  decree  be- 
cause he  who  held  the  position  of  royalty,  having  protested 
against  the  constitution,  has  by  that  very  fact  abdicated  and 
left  us  where  we  were  before  we  declared  the  monarchy  heredi- 
tary. It  ought  to  be  done  because  to  preserve  royalty  would 
only  be  to  preserve  a  source  of  calamity  and  disorder.  .  .  . 

"The  republicans  maintain  that  royalty  ought  to  be  abol- 
ished," he  went  on  to  say,  "because  chance  is  as  likely  to  call 
to  the  throne  an  idiot  or  a  rogue  as  a  capable  and  good  man; 
because  royalty  involves  a  heavy  weight  of  expense  upon  the 
nation,  and  because  a  good  executive  power  and  an  energetic 
administration  are  possible  without  a  king.  But  it  may  be 
objected  that  the  ofiice  of  king  is  necessary  in  the  present  crisis. 
In  answer,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  oflBce  has  practically 
been  suspended  for  two  years  and  legally  for  two  weeks  and 
society  has  not  gone  to  pieces."  Finally,  he  concluded,  repub- 
licanism was  much  less  likely  than  monarchy  to  bring  about 
anarchy.  For,  if  the  p)eople  chose  all  their  departments  of 
government,  they  would  have  confidence  in  them.  They  would 
obey  them  with  pleasure. 

But,  while  maintaining  the  superiority  of  a  republic  over  a 
monarchy  in  the  abstract,  Brissot  admitted  that  these  argu- 
ments might  not  be  sufficient  to  lead  to  the  establishment  of  a 
republic  immediately.  As  a  practical  substitute,  he  proposed  a 
king  with  an  elective  and  removable  council.^  In  the  Patriote 
Frangais  of  July  1,  he  outlined  a  method  for  the  formation  of 
this  council.  The  electoral  assembly  of  each  department  should 
^  Again  taken  up  in  the  speech  of  July  10. 


A  JOURX.\LIST  175 

choose  one  citizen  and  these  eighty-three  citizens  should 
choose  the  council  from  their  o\^^l  number.^  It  was  only  as  a 
substitute,  Brissot  was  careful  to  add:  the  real  and  lasting 
remedy  was  to  be  a  republic.^  In  short,  to  quote  M.  Aulard, 
he  changed  his  tactics  but  not  his  principles.' 

As  to  the  concrete  question  involved:  "  Was  the  king  to  be 
held  responsible  for  his  recent  action?  "  Brissot  kept  firmly  to 
his  former  opinion.  In  numerous  articles  in  the  Pairiofe  Fran- 
gais,  he  inveighed  against  that  section  of  the  Assembly  led  by 
Barnave  which  upheld  the  inviolability  of  the  king.^  And  on 
July  10  he  made  a  notable  speech  on  the  subject  at  the  Jacobin 
Club.^  He  began  by  defending  the  Jacobins  against  the  accusa- 
tion of  republicanism,  and  declared  that,  while  they  demanded 
that  the  king  be  tried,  they  were  at  the  same  time  defenders  of 
the  constitution.  Then,  passing  directly  to  the  question  of  the 
inviolability  of  the  monarch,  he  asserted  that  such  a  claim  was 
entirely  without  foundation.  The  sovereignty  of  tlie  nation,  he 
argued,  recognized  no  one  above  itself,  hence  if  the  people  were 

^  This  method  of  choice  by  the  departments  suggests  the  federalist  idea. 
See  chap.  xi.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  a  letter  to  Han^ai  des  Issarts, 
dated  July  1,  1791,  Ma<lame  Roland  speaks  of  an  elective  council  and  urges 
Banzai  to  work  for  it.  She  says:  "  Vou.i  ferez  une  chose  exccUentc  si  vans  pourcr 
porter  ros  assemhlees  primaires  h  dHib^rcr  que,  /ea  circonsfanrcs  rcqucrnni  un 
novel  eiamen  de  la  chose  publique,  elies  ont  roulu  connailre  quels  changemenis  U 
convenait  d'y  apporier,  et,  d'apres  une  sage  discussion,  ont  arretc  sur  telles  con- 
sidhations  que  V Assemblee  nationale  scrait  prUe  de  conroqucr  toutcs  celles  du 
Toyaume  pour  avoir  leur  vaexi  sur  la  formation  d'un  conseil  flcctif  et  temporaire, 
auquel  serait  confii  le  pouvoir  ei^nitif."    Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  319. 

*  .\ccording  to  De  Lacroix  {L' Intrigue  devoiUe),  it  was  this  production  which 
finally  gained  Brissot  his  election  to  the  Legislative. 

*  Histoire  politique,  134. 

*  The  question  was  discussed  either  editorially  or  in  the  form  of  commu- 
nicated articles  in  almost  every  issue,  from  the  time  of  the  king's  flight  to 
July  11. 

'  Discours  sur  la  question  de  savoir  si  le  roi  pent  etrejugS  10  juillet,  1791.  Brig- 
sot  had  become  a  member  of  the  Club  some  time  between  December  21, 1790, 
and  May  11,  1791,  but  the  exact  date  of  his  admission  does  not  appear.  In  the 
list  of  members  drawn  up  December  21,  1790,  his  name  is  not  included  (Au- 
lard, Les  Jacobins,  i.  Int.,  xxxix)  and  the  first  mention  of  his  participation  in 
the  meetings  of  the  Club  was  May  11, 1791,  when  he  made  a  speech.  Aulard, 
Les  Jacobins,  ii,  412. 


176  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

not  inviolable,  the  king  could  not  be  inviolable;  and,  according 
to  the  declaration  of  rights,  all  men  were  equal  before  the  law. 
Further,  the  inviolability  of  the  king  would  only  mean  anarchy. 
Again,  to  take  example  from  foreign  experiences,  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  President  of  the  United  States  worked  no  harm, 
but  acted  rather  as  a  preventive;  and  in  England,  although  the 
people  admitted  the  inviolability  of  the  king  theoretically,  they 
denied  it  practically  whenever  they  wished  to  overturn  the 
constitution.  After  having  considered  the  question  in  the 
abstract,  Brissot  turned  to  the  concrete  objection  that  to  hold 
the  king  accountable  would  bring  down  on  France  the  venge- 
ance of  foreign  powers,  and  tried  to  show,  by  taking  up  in 
detail  the  condition  of  each  country,  that  there  was  no  possi- 
bility of  any  of  them  making  war  upon  France.  But  if  they 
did  make  war,  he  continued,  with  his  unfailing  optimism, 
France,  as  a  free  country,  would  easily  be  victorious. 

According  to  Madame  Roland,  Brissot  fairly  outdid  himself 
in  this  speech.  "He  was  no  more  a  mere  orator,"  she  wrote  in 
one  of  her  letters;  "he  was  a  free  man,  defending  the  cause  of 
the  human  race  with  the  majesty,  the  nobility,  and  the  supe- 
riority of  the  very  genius  of  liberty.  He  convinced  people's 
minds,  he  electrified  their  souls.  .  .  .  Three  times  the  Assembly 
.  .  .  rose  in  a  body  and  threw  their  hats  into  the  air  in  an  irre- 
pressible enthusiasm."  ^  And  Desmoulins,  who  was  not  over- 
ready  to  praise  Brissot,  declared  that  he  had  exhausted  the 
subject.  Others  had  made  speeches,  but  he  had  left  nothing 
more  to  be  said.  His  speech  ought  to  be  given  the  widest  pub- 
licity. ^  The  Jacobins  were  evidently  of  the  same  opinion,  for 
they  decreed  that  the  speech  be  printed  and  copies  sent  to  the 
National  Assembly  and  to  all  the  departments.' 

*  Lettres,  n,  326.  ^  H^j^olutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant,  no.  85. 

'  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  iii,  628.  The  follo^-ing  is  an  English  appreciation 
of  the  speech  (Diary  of  the  Second  Viscount  Palmerston  in  France,  July  6  to 
August  31,  1791;  describes  meeting  of  Jacobin  Club;  about  one  thousand 
present) :  — 

"Brissot  read  a  speech  very  violent  and  inflammatory,  to  prove  that  the 
king's  person  was  inviolable  only  for  those  Acts  of  Government  which  are 


A  JOURX.\LIST  177 

A  few  days  later  the  Club  petitioned  for  dethronement,  and, 
as  an  evident  recognition  of  his  influence,  Brissot  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  committee  which  was  entrusted  with  the  draw- 
ing up  of  the  petition.^  This  petition  closed  with  a  request 
that  the  National  Assembly  receive  in  the  name  of  the  nation 
the  abdication  which  Louis  XVI  had  already  made  on  June  '21, 
and  that  it  use  all  constitutional  means  to  provide  for  filling 
the  vacant  places.  This  last  clause  was  violently  opposed  by 
the  avowed  republicans  on  the  ground  that  it  both  upheld  the 
throne  and  implied  a  desire  to  put  on  it  a  member  of  the 
Orleanist  family.  After  a  heated  debate,  the  Jacobins  finally 
decided  to  retain  the  clause  in  question,  and  although  such  ac- 
tion did  not  necessarily  imply  that  they  were  Orleanists,  it  did 
show  that  they  were  not  willing  to  lead  in  the  immediate  estab- 
lishment of  a  republic.  This  jx-tition  had  already  been  pre- 
sented for  signatures  on  the  Champ  de  Mars,  when  news  came 
that  the  Assembly  had  decided  that  the  decree  suspending  the 
king  should  remain  in  force  till  he  should  accept  the  constitu- 
tion. The  Jacobins,  accordingly,  withdrew  their  petition  and 
appointed  another  committee,  of  which  Brissot  was  a  member, 
to  draw  up  an  address  to  the  affiliated  societies,  explaining  and 
defending  their  position. 

According  to  Brissot 's  own  account,  his  authorship  of  the 
petition  had  been  made  kno^\Ti  by  Laclos.^  At  all  events,  his 
membership  in  these  two  committees  was  a  public  acknowledg- 

transacted  through  his  Ministers;  that  there  was  a  case  in  which  he  was  per- 
sonally answerable;  that  he  ought  to  be  trieti  for  his  conduct,  and  that  there  was 
no  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  foreign  powers  on  that  account.  Ilis  speech 
was  lively  and  full  of  declamation,  well  suited  to  the  temper  of  his  audience, 
who  received  it  with  such  continued  bursts  of  applause  as  almost  deafened  me 
for  the  rest  of  the  evening.  He  was  very  deBcient  in  point  of  argument  and 
totally  passed  over  what  are  considered  as  the  most  material  grounds  by  those 
who  hold  the  other  opinion.  .  .  .  Monsr.  Brissot's  speech,  however,  was  per- 
fectly satisfactorj'  to  his  audience,  and  the  shouts  of  applause  given  by  so  many 
hundred  people  on  such  a  subject,  showed  a  kind  of  ferociousness  of  disposition 
which  was  infinitely  disgusting  to  a  moderate  mind.  It  was  ordered  to  be 
printed  and  distributed  over  the  country,  which  I  doubt  not  will  be  much 
inflamed  by  it."   July  10,  Dispatches  of  Earl  Gower,  287-88. 

1  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  ni,  19.       *  Projet  de  defense,  Memoires,  u,  282. 


178  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

ment  that  he  had  retreated  from  the  advanced  repubhcan  posi- 
tion which  for  the  last  four  weeks  he  had  openly  held,  though 
with  some  wavering.  His  enemies  hastened  to  say  that  it  was 
also  an  acknowledgment  that  he  was  an  Orleanist,  a  charge 
which  his  friends,  in  turn,  hastened  to  deny.^  From  his  state- 
ment, later,  that  when  urged  by  Laclos  to  present  the  petition 
he  refused,  on  the  ground  of  pressing  business  elsewhere,  it 
looks  as  if  he  did  not  wish  to  make  his  part  in  the  event  too 
conspicuous. 2  At  the  time  of  his  trial  this  charge  of  being  a 
partisan  of  the  house  of  Orleans  was  again  brought  up,  and  with 
more  serious  import.  The  debated  clause,  "e<  a  pouvoir  a  son 
[the  king's]  remplacement  par  tous  les  moyens  constitutionnels" 
was  adduced  as  a  strong  link  in  the  alleged  chain  of  proof  that 
he  was  a  royalist  and  Orleanist,  and  that,  while  ostensibly  sup- 
porting republicanism,  he  was  and  always  had  been,  its  enemy. 
In  his  Projet  de  defense  he  admitted  having  yielded  to  the 
persuasions  of  Laclos  to  draw  up  the  petition,  but  declared 
most  emphatically  that  the  last  clause  was  afterward  added  by 
Laclos  and  that  he  was  himself  in  no  way  responsible  for  it.^ 
According  to  Madame  Roland,  who  apparently  derived  her 
information  from  Brissot,  Laclos  openly  proposed  to  him  the 
addition  of  the  clause,  and  on  his  strenuous  objection  agreed  to 
withdraw  it,  but  covertly  managed  to  slip  it  in  afterward.^ 
Despite  Brissot's  apparent  failure  to  explain  himself  at  the 
time,  his  later  defense  is  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  Laclos  was 
a  known  Orleanist  and  opposed  to  Brissot's  republican  ideas. ^ 

1  Bonneville,  a  friend  of  Brissot  and  an  enemy  of  Laclos,  came  to  the  rescue 
of  the  former  (Dard,  La  General  Choderlos  de  Laclos,  323),  and  in  the  Bouche 
de  Fer  of  July  17,  wrote:  "Swr  le  nom  du  ridacteur  le  patriate  Brissot,  nous  dif- 
fSrons  de  rendre  compte  des  violens  soupQons  qui  se  sont  eleves  d,  la  lecture  (ar- 
rieres-pensSes  Orleanistes)  nous  ne  les  partageons  plus.  Brissot  est  un  patriate 
integre."  Quoted  in  Bouchez  et  Roux,  x,  447. 

2  MSmatres,  n,  282.  »  Ibid.,  n,  282-83. 

*  "  Ce  meme  Laclos  praposait  d'insirer  un  article  quil  annongait  d'un  air  sans 
consequence,  mais  qui  eAt  StA  favorable  d,  d'OrlSans,  que  Brissot  le  rejeta  avec 
indignation,  en  mettant  d,  la  place  celui  qui  invitait  a  la  Republique  pour  laquelle 
ce  moment  itait  le  veritable  et  eut  StS  bien  preciettx."  Mimoires  de  Madame 
Roland,  n,  285. 

»  Dard,  158,  275. 


A  JOUBN-AXIST  179 

It  receives  further  substantiation  from  Dard's  ^  assertion  that 
the  clause  in  question  was  in  an  unknown  hand.- 

The  events  which  followed  the  withdrawal  of  the  Jacobin 
petition  are  well  known:  the  preparation  by  the  dissatisfied 
radical  societies  of  another  petition,  which  said  nothing  about 
constitutional  means  of  filling  the  throne;  the  proclamation  of 
Bailly,  the  Mayor  of  Paris,  and  Lafayette,  the  commander  of 
the  national  guard,  both  of  whom  were  adherents  of  monarchy, 
forbidding  any  gathering  in  the  Champ  de  Mars;  the  assem- 
bling of  the  crowds  in  spite  of  the  proclamations  and  the  firing 
on  them  by  Lafayette's  troops.  In  the  conservative  reaction 
which  followed,  an  attempt  was  made  to  punish  the  instigators 
of  the  republican  movement.  Brissot,  with  other  republicans, 
was  accused  of  being  in  the  pay  of  foreign  powers,  but  for  some 
reason,  he  himself  was  not  arrested;  a  fact  which  was  afterward 
alleged  against  him  as  another  evidence  that  he  was  a  royalist 
and  had  a  secret  understanding  with  the  reactionaries.  His  es- 
cape seemed  to  be  accounted  for,  in  part,  by  the  fact  that  the 
petition  presented  was  not  the  one  with  the  drawing  up  of 
which  he  was  connected;  and  in  part  because,  when  it  came  to 
the  actual  presentation  of  the  latter  petition  for  signatures,  he 
remained  behind  the  scenes.  At  all  events,  he  stood  his  ground 
fairly  well,  considering  the  dangerous  position  in  which  he  was 
placed,  and  he  did  not  suspend  his  journal  nor  flee  from  Paris. 
But  while  he  admitted  that  he  had  held  rei)ublican  opinions 
and  preached  them  in  his  journal,  he  denied  that  he  had  had 
any  part  in  the  active  republican  movement.  Nor  were  the 
people  to  blame,  he  declared  with  his  usual  readiness  to  defend 
the  democratic  against  the  bourgeois  element.  They  had 
merely  been  deceived  by  a  few  seditious  leaders.^   But  even 

^  The  biographer  of  Laclos. 

2  In  the  judicial  investigation,  which  was  held  immediately  after  the  affair 
of  the  17th  of  July,  Brissot  testified  that  he  had  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  print- 
ing, distributing,  or  signature  of  the  petition.  M.  Mathiez,  in  commenting  on 
this  testimony,  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  Brissot  took  good  care  not  to  say 
anything  as  to  the  drawing  up  of  the  petition.  Mathiez,  Le  Club  des  Cordeliers, 
262,  and  note. 

»  Patriate  Frangais,  July  20,  1791. 


180  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Brissot,  wrote  Madame  Roland,  in  terms  which  showed  her 
high  opinion  of  his  courage,  did  not  dare  to  tell  the  entire  truth 
about  the  events  of  the  last  few  days.  To  do  so  would  only  be 
to  bring  down  the  knife  which  was  suspended  over  the  heads  of 
the  republicans.^ 

He  was  certainly  bold  enough  in  denouncing  Lafayette. 
"The  deed  was  done,"  he  wrote,  "by  a  man  who  has  told  me  a 
hundred  times  that  he  was  a  republican;  who  called  himself  the 
friend  of  the  republican  Condorcet;  who  told  me  that  he  cor- 
dially detested  the  vile  persons  with  whom  he  is  to-day  con- 
nected. .  .  .  There  is  from  now  on  nothing  more  in  common 
between  him  and  me."  -  Brissot  also  denounced  the  Assembly 
for  its  proposal  to  send  his  fellow  republicans  before  a  special 
court.  Such  a  court,  he  declared,  was  nothing  short  of  a  star 
chamber,  or  the  rule  of  the  Thirty  at  Athens;  the  courageous 
friends  of  liberty  might  as  well  prepare  to  drink  hemlock.' 
Meanwhile,  as  the  conservative  reaction  had  decided  that  the 
proposed  constitutional  monarchy  was  not  to  give  place  to  a 
republic,  the  constitution  was  once  more  brought  up  for  dis- 
cussion. And  once  more  Brissot  opposed  with  all  his  might  the 
tendency  to  strengthen  the  power  of  the  executive,  and  urged 
provision  for  periodic  conventions  as  a  means  of  amendment, 
though  he  now  opposed,  in  view  of  the  disturbed  conditions  of 
the  country,  the  submittal  of  the  present  constitution  to  the 
people.'*  Of  one  important  change  that  was  made,  the  lowering 
of  the  qualifications  for  the  position  of  deputy,  he  thoroughly 
disapproved,  supporting  Robespierre,  Petion,  and  Buzot  in 
their  opposition,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  only  an  ostensible 
concession  to  democracy,  since  at  the  same  time  the  qualifica- 
tions for  electors  were  raised.  As  the  electors  would  be  apt  to 
choose  deputies  from  among  their  own  number,  democracy  had 
lost  rather  than  gained  by  the  change.^ 

^  "  Toxdis  les  relations  des  faits  de  dimanche  sont  fausses,  h  commencer  par  le 
proces-rerbal  de  la  munici  polite ;  personne  nose  f aire  les  vcritables,  meme  B'st 
[Brissot],  car  ce  serait  de  plonger  le  couieau  sous  lequel  on  est  tenu."  Lettres,  n,  341. 

2  Patriate  Frangais,  July  18,  1791.        »  Ibid.,  July  23,  1791. 

*  See  p.  135.  ^  Patriate  Frangais,  August  12,  1791. 


A  JOURN-ALIST  181 

The  constitution,  as  thus  completed,  satisfied  neither  the 
conservatives  who  wanted  the  power  of  the  king  strengthened, 
nor  Brissot  and  his  friends,  who  wanted  it  lessened;  but  both 
agreed  for  the  time  in  supporting  the  constitutional  monarchy 
as  thus  established.  Brissot  soon  obtained  a  seat  in  the  legisla- 
tive body  under  this  new  government  and  a  chance  to  take  a 
more  direct  part  in  political  life.  His  success  was  due  largely  to 
the  reputation  he  had  gained  as  editor  of  the  Patriote  Fran^ais. 
In  this  capacity  his  writings  on  the  formation  of  the  constitu- 
tion and  on  the  events  of  the  day  had  made  him  widely  known, 
and  decidedly  influential  as  a  supporter  of  the  extreme  left  and 
an  opponent,  not  only  of  the  royalists,  but  also  of  the  mod- 
erates, the  advocates  of  constitutional  monarchy  such  as  Bar- 
nave  and  Lamcth.  In  short,  though  he  had  in  the  end  accepted 
an  undemocratic  monarchy  he  had  made  a  name  for  himself  as 
an  upholder  of  the  practice,  as  well  as  the  principles,  of  democ- 
racy and  sovereignty  of  the  people. 

After  his  election  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  he  still  kept 
the  direction  of  his  journal,^  and  thus  commanded  a  double 
portion  of  influence.  Through  the  Patriote  Frangais  he  con- 
tinued to  stand  for  humanitarian  princii)les,  to  uphold  Ameri- 
can precedents,  and  to  preach  democratic  republicanism  as  a 
theory,-  —  even  though  he  wavered  in  regard  to  republicanism 
in  practice.  At  the  same  time  that  Brissot  was  coming  to  be 
recognized  as  a  leader  of  the  Girondins,  he  made  his  paper  more 
and  more  the  organ  of  that  party  in  the  Legislative  Assembly 
and  later  in  the  Convention;  and  as  such  it  vehemently  advo- 
cated the  war,  attacked  Robespierre,  denounced  the  Commune 
for  its  opposition  to  the  Girondins,  and  fell  with  the  Girondins 
in  their  defeat.  During  this  later  period  interest  is  focused  on 
Brissot  as  a  legislator,  rather  than  as  an  editor.  The  later  his- 
tory of  the  Patriote  Frangais  may,  therefore,  best  be  studied  in 
connection  with  the  Legislative  Assembly  and  the  Convention, 

^  He  did  give  it  up  for  a  brief  time  but  soon  resumed  it.  See  p.  361. 
2  A  dispatch  of  Earl  Gower  of  September  16,  1791,  speaks  of  the  Patriote 
FranQais  as  the  most  republican  journal  published  in  Paris. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BHISSOT   AS   A  HUMANITARIAN 

La  Sociiti  des  Amis  des  Noira 

If  any  Frenchman  in  public  life  had  been  asked,  up  to  the 
close  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  for  what  Brissot  was  best 
known,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  answered  without  hesita- 
tion, for  his  work  as  the  leader  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs.  Indeed, 
to  his  connection  with  this  society  which  had  so  large  an  influ- 
ence on  the  colonial  question  and  which  was  so  intensely  hated 
by  the  white  planters,  Brissot  owed  a  large  share  of  his  reputa- 
tion for  good  or  for  ill.  He  was  one  of  the  most  zealous  humani- 
tarians of  the  eighteenth  century.  But  of  all  his  many  and 
varied  humanitarian  interests  the  cause  to  which  he  was  most 
devotedly  attached  was  that  of  the  negro.  In  his  ardent  desire 
to  extend  to  this  oppressed  and  inferior  race  some  measure  of 
the  liberty  and  equality  which  Frenchmen  were  claiming  for 
themselves,  and  particularly  to  abolish  the  slave  trade,  he 
established  La  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs. 

His  immediate  incentive  to  this  undertaking  was  the  ener- 
getic work  of  an  English  organization  directed  against  the 
slave  trade.  As  early  as  17*27  the  English  Quakers  had  ex- 
pressed their  disapproval  of  that  trade;  and  in  1761  they  agreed 
to  exclude  from  their  society  all  persons  who  should  be  found  to 
be  concerned  in  it.  In  177'-2  their  cause  was  furthered  by  the 
famous  judicial  decision  of  Lord  Mansfield,  that  as  soon  as  a 
slave  set  his  foot  on  the  shores  of  England  he  became  free.^  In 
1783  they  formed  an  association  "for  the  relief  and  liberation 
of  the  negro  slaves  in  the  West  Indies  and  for  the  discourage- 

1  "The  air  of  England  has  long  been  too  pure  for  a  slave  and  every  man  is 
free  who  breathes  it.  Every  man  who  comes  into  England  is  entitled  to  the 
protection  of  the  English  law."  Somerset  c.  Stewart,  Lqfft's  Reports,  State 
Trials,  I,  201. 


A  HU^L\NIT.\RL\N  188 

ment  of  the  slave  trade  on  the  coast  of  Africa."  The  interest 
aroused  by  the  Quakers  led  Dr.  Pinkard,  the  Vice-Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  to  propose  as  the  Latin  prize 
essay  at  Cambridge  for  the  year  1785  the  subject  An  liceat 
imitos  in  servitutem  dare.  The  prize  was  won  by  Thomas  Clark- 
son,  who  published  his  work  m  English  in  1786  in  an  extended 
form,  under  the  title  of  "Essay  on  the  Slavery  and  Commerce 
of  the  Human  Species."  The  publication  of  this  essay  marked 
an  epoch  in  the  struggle  against  slavery.  Clarkson  was  joined 
by  Wilberforce  and  Granville  Sharp,  and  under  the  presidency 
of  the  latter  a  committee  was  formed  in  1787  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  slave  trade.' 

Just  at  this  juncture  Brissot  arrived  in  England,  whither 
he  fled  to  avoid  the  lettre  de  cachet  threatened  on  account  of 
his  pamphlet.  Point  de  banqueroute,  and  through  his  previous 
affiliations  with  the  Quakers  was  brought  into  connection  with 
the  work  of  the  committee  now  just  getting  under  way.^  He 
was  already  greatly  interested  in  the  negro  and  had  rushed  to 
his  defense  against  the  strictures  made  on  him  by  the  Marquis 
de  Chastellux.=»  He  now  returned  to  France,  thrilled  with  the 
idea  of  participating  in  so  noble  a  cause.-*  He  stirred  up  his 
friends  to  interest  in  the  subject,  after  his  usual  fashion  laid 
plans  for  disseminating  knowledge  by  providing  for  the  trans- 
lation of  books  and  pamphlets,  and  appealed  for  help  to  Mira- 
beau.  As  it  happened  Miral)eau  had  just  secured  government 
permission  for  the  publication  of  his  Analyse  des  pajners  anr 
glais.  Moved  doubtless,  in  part,  by  the  probable  advantage  to 
himself,  he  not  only  agreed  to  convince  the  government  of  the 
utility  of  allowing  him  to  include  translations  of  works  on  the 
slave  question  as  a  kind  of  supplement  to  his  journal,  but  of- 
fered Brissot  very  advantageous  business  terms  for  the  arrange- 

1  Clarkson,  History  of  the  rise,  progress  and  accomTplishmenl  of  the  abolitum 
of  the  African  slave  trade,  I,  257. 

2  See  p.  39.  »  See  p.  59. 

«  "Ce  qui  est  certain  c'est  que  ce  club  Hait  une  importation  anglaise,  qui  ne 
nous  a  pas  ete  mains  funeste  que  les  autres  marchandises  arrivSes  de  la  Grande 
Bretagne"  Beaulieu,  Essais  historiquea  sur  la  RtvolidionfranQaiae,  n,  4«9,  note. 


184  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

ment.^  This  arrangement  he  seems  to  have  faithfully  carried 
out,  for  as  long  as  the  Analyse  lasted,  it  continued  to  be  the 
organ  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  fulfilling  the  function  which  was 
afterward  taken  up  by  Brissot's  own  newspaper. 

Meantime  Brissot  had  ^vTitten  a  letter  to  the  English  society 
in  which  with  a  superb  disregard  of  international  barriers  he 
offered  to  act  as  their  agent  in  France  and  promote  a  subscrip- 
tion there.  At  this  proposition  the  English  society  was  some- 
what alarmed,  and  while  thanking  him  warmly  and  electing 
him  and  Claviere  honorarj'^  members  and  correspondents, 
made  haste  to  decline  his  offer  of  raising  funds,  and  suggested 
that  a  better  method  would  be  to  organize  in  France  a  separate 
society.  2 

Whereupon  Brissot  through  U Analyse  des  papiers  anglais 
promptly  announced  the  proposed  formation  of  such  a  society 
and  begged  for  the  cooperation  of  all  the  friends  of  humanity. 
As  a  result  of  his  efforts,  on  February  19,  1788,  a  handful  of 
men  gathered  at  No.  3  rue  Frangaise  to  effect  an  organization.' 
Brissot  counted  eleven  besides  himself  among  the  founders,  but 
according  to  the  records  of  the  society  they  numl)ered  eight, 
including,  besides  Claviere  and  Mirabeau,  Valady  and  Carra, 
afterward  associated  with  Brissot  and  the  Girondins.  To  this 
little  company  Brissot  made  a  stirring  appeal,  setting  forth  in 
eloquent  terms  the  work  to  be  done  in  bringing  about  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  slave  trade  and  of  slavery,  and  the  urgent  need  of 
organized  effort.  Although  the  task  seemed  beyond  their  pow- 
ers, they  might  well  be  encouraged  by  what  had  already  been 
accomplished  in  America  and  in  England.  In  order  to  achieve 

*  In  the  number  of  L' Analyse  des  papiers  anglais  of  February  29  to  March 
6,  1788,  Mirabeau  announced  the  publication  of  works  on  slavery  —  at  a 
reduced  price  to  those  who  subscribed  for  them  in  connection  with  his  paper. 
See  also  Brissot,  Memoires,  u,  79.  See  also  the  Extrait  du  registre  referred  to 
below. 

*  Proceedings  of  the  committee  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  1781- 
1819,  3  vols.,  British  Museum,  Mms.  21254-21256. 

'  See  Extrait  du  registre  de  la  society  at  the  Institute,  Paris,  papers  of  Con- 
dorcet;  also  article  by  Cahen:  La  Society  des  Amis  des  Noirs  et  Condorcet  in  La 
Revolution  frangaise,  June,  1906, 


A  HU^L\XIT.\RIAN  185 

like  results  he  recommended  that  they  translate  and  publish 
English  works  on  the  subject,  make  appeals  through  the  news- 
papers, correspond  with  the  English  society  and  carry  on  re- 
searches on  the  condition  of  slavery  in  the  French  colonies.' 
The  eight  accordingly  proceeded  to  action,  drew  up  the  outline 
of  a  constitution,  and  unanimously  chose  Clavierc  president. 
Thus  was  formed  La  Socicte  des  Amis  des  \oirs.- 

A  part,  at  least,  of  the  plan  was  immediately  carried  out, 
for  there  began  to  appear  in  L Analyse  des  papiers  anglais  of 
Mirabeau  works  on  slavery.  Their  zeal  seems  to  have  startled 
the  EngUsh  society,  for,  a  few  weeks  later,  the  latter  felt  obliged 
to  issue  a  formal  statement  in  reference  to  a  wild  rumor  that 
was  abroad  to  the  effect  that  it  was  trying  to  bring  about  the 
immediate  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  English  colonies.  It  had 
no  such  intention,  it  declared,  and  in  order  to  make  perfectly 
clear  what  its  intentions  actually  were  it  wished  to  state  jjub- 
licly  its  purpose  of  keeping  strictly  to  its  main  aim  —  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  slave  trade.^  It  is  not  improbable  that  this  declara- 
tion was  provoked  by  Brissot's  speech  at  the  founding  of  the 
Amis  des  Xoirs  which,  was  printed  under  the  title  Discours  sur 
la  necessiie  d'etablir  a  Paris  une  socicte  pour  eoncourir  avec  celle 
du  Londres,  a  Vabolition  de  la  traite  et  de  Veselavagc  des  ncgres. 
At  all  events,  the  English  society  issued  the  above  protest,  and 
whether  or  not  the  French  society  really  felt  itself  to  blame,  it 
decreed  that  the  protest  should  Ije  sent  to  all  the  journals  of 
France.  If  it  issued  a  like  declaration  on  its  own  behalf  there 
appears  to  be  no  record  of  it. 

Meanwhile  Brissot  was  zealously  seeking  to  attach  to  the 
society  persons  to  whose  humanitarian  interests  it  would  seem 
to  appeal,  particularly  those  whose  position  and  influence 
might  be  of  help  to  them.   He  tried  to  secure  the  adhesion  of 

^  Although  Brissot's  name  does  not  appear  in  connection  \\'ith  this  speech,  it 
was  undoubtedly  his,  as  he  says  in  his  memoirs  (ii,  78)  that  the  speech  which 
he  made  at  the  opening  meeting  was  printed  by  Mirabeau,  and  this  is  the  only 
speech  made  on  that  occasion  printed  by  him. 

*  Extrait  du  regisire.   For  a  list  of  the  members  see  Appendix  B. 

'  L' Analyse  des  papiers  anglais,  i,  April  4,  1788. 


186  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  and  of  Herault  de  Sechelles,  a  cele- 
brated lawyer  in  the  service  of  the  government/  and  even 
ventured  to  write  to  Thomas  Jefferson.  But  in  these  cases  he 
was  not  successful.  The  first  declined  on  the  ground  of  ill 
health;  Herault  de  Sechelles  felt  that  on  account  of  his  oflBcial 
position  it  would  hardly  be  seemly  for  him  to  appear  to  be  the 
accomplice  of  a  society  preparing  for  revolution;  and  Jefferson 
also,  while  professing  the  greatest  interest  in  the  work,  ex- 
plained that  as  the  official  representative  of  the  United  States 
he  too  was  precluded  from  active  cooperation."  Others,  Brissot 
was  more  successful  in  persuading  to  join  the  society.  Among 
them  were  Lubersac,^  Bishop  of  Chartres;  Brach,  royal  censor 
and  director  general  of  exports;  the  Marquis  of  Beaupoil  de 
Saint- Aulaire,^  the  Marquis  of  Pampeluna,^  Lanthenas,' 
Crevecceur;  ^  and  the  Englishman,  Pigott.*  Of  the  various  peo- 
ple to  whom  he  appealed,  Lafayette  seems  to  have  been  of  the 
greatest  help.  He  had  responded  cordially  to  Brissot's  invi- 
tation to  become  a  member  of  the  society,  and  though  he  was 
not  present  at  the  first  meeting  he  was  considered  one  of  the 

^  Marie  Jean  Herault  de  Sechelles  (bom  1759,  died  1794)  was  a  writer  and 
lawyer  of  considerable  reputation  on  account  of  his  oratorical  powers.  He  was 
elected  to  the  Legislative  Assembly,  where  he  took  his  place  on  the  extreme 
left,  and  afterward  to  the  Convention,  of  which  he  was  twice  president.  The 
constitution  drawn  up  under  the  leadership  of  the  Mountain  in  the  summer  of 
1793  was  chiefly  his  work.  He  followed  the  policy  of  Danton  and  perished  with 
him. 

*  Brissot,  Correspondance,  165-66. 

'  Jean  Baptiste  Joseph,  Baron  de  Lubersac  (bom  1740,  died  1822),  became 
Bishop  of  Chartres  Ln  1780  and  was  elected  as  deputy  of  the  clergj'  of  Chartres 
to  the  States-General.  .\t  first  he  showed  liberal  tendencies,  but  refused  to 
accept  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy,  emigrated  and  returned  to  France 
only  after  the  Concordat. 

*  Martial  Louis  Beaupoil  de  Saint-Aulaire  (bom  1719),  was  a  bishop  of  Poi- 
tiers and  was  elected  by  the  clergj'  of  Poitiers  to  the  States-General,  where  he 
sat  among  the  royalists.  He  subsequently  emigrated  to  England  where  he  died. 

*  Probably  Jacques  Joseph  de  Guy  on  de  Geis,  Baron  de  (bom  1748,  died 
1789),  depuie  suppliant  to  the  States-General. 

6  See  p.  121.  '  See  p.  59. 

8  Robert  Pigott  was  one  of  the  English  Quakers  who  had  so  large  an  influence 
on  Brissot.  Various  articles  by  him  were  inserted  by  Brissot  in  the  Patriote 
Franqais. 


A  HUMANITARUN  187 

founders,  and  took  it  upon  himself  to  set  forth  the  purpose  of 
the  society  m  as  favorable  a  light  as  possible  before  the  minister 
Brienne.  If  he  could  not  convince  him  of  its  usefulness,  he 
would  at  least  try  to  persuade  him  that  it  was  mnocuous. 
Brienne  did  not  seem  to  have  been  altogether  persuaded,  how- 
ever, for  he  warned  Lafayette  that  it  was  a  delicate  question 
which  the  Amis  des  Noirs  were  essaymg  to  settle  and  that  they 
needed  to  handle  it  with  great  care.  But  at  any  rate  he  let  the 
society  alone.  This  freedom  from  molestation  under  a  despotic 
government  meant  much  to  them,  and  Brissot,  even  after  he 
had  come  to  regard  Lafayette  as  a  traitor  to  the  Revolution, 
never  forgot  what  the  Amis  des  Noirs  owed  to  his  protection 
and  assistance.  1  It  was  also  indebted  to  him  for  introducing 
Condorcet,  who  was  an  especially  valuable  acquisition,  as  he 
joined  with  Lafayette  in  bringing  in  other  persons  of  note  and 

influence.- 

Besides  bringing  in  new  members  Condorcet  did  good  service 
to  the  society  by  drawing  up  a  constitution.  This  document  was 
divided  into  eight  chapters  and  sixty-four  articles,  of  which  the 
most  important  were  as  follows:  Membership  was  unlimited 
as  to  numbers  and  was  open  alike  to  men  and  women,  French- 
men and  foreigners;  but  as  it  was  stated  later  that  ladies  would 
be  welcome  to  the  social  semi-annual  meetings  when  reports 
of  the  work  of  the  society  would  be  made,  it  was  obvious  that 
they  were  not  welcome  at  the  ordinary  meetings,  nor  expected 
to  take  part  in  the  public  work  of  the  society.  No  one  would  be 
admitted  to  membership,  however,  except  on  presentation  of  a 
member  who  would  stand  sponsor  for  him  and  who  was  sup- 
ported by  four  other  members.  The  annual  dues  were  two 
louis,  but  the  members  might  give  more.  Meetings  were  to  be 
held  regularly  on  Tuesday,  and  besides  the  regular  meeting  a 
special  meeting  was  held  at  the  end  of  each  semester  to  hear 
reports  of  papers.  Members  were  to  be  notified  in  advance  of 
the  meetings  and  of  the  subjects  to  be  discussed.  The  officers 
were  to  be  a  president,  a  secretary,  a  treasurer,  and  a  general 
1  MSmoires,  ii.  76-78.  *  Ibid.,  n,  86. 


.188  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

committee,  for  the  election  of  each  of  whom  a  different  method 
was  provided.  The  president  was  to  be  elected  from  the  general 
assembly  by  a  majority  vote  from  members  of  the  committee 
present,  to  serve  three  months,  and  then  be  reeligible  only  after 
an  interval  of  three  months.  For  the  election  of  the  secretary, 
evidently  the  most  important  officer,  the  assembly  in  the  ses- 
sion preceding  the  one  in  which  the  secretary  was  to  be  elected, 
was  to  add  five  members  to  the  committee.  The  body  thus  con- 
stituted was  to  choose  at  least  four  names  to  present  to  the 
assembly,  by  whom  the  choice  was  to  be  made.  The  term  of 
office  was  to  be  two  years,  but  the  secretary  might  remain  in 
office  another  two  years  if  he  were  supported  by  two  thirds  of 
the  members,  and  still  another  two  years  if  supported  by  three 
fourths.  Even  if  he  did  not  receive  the  requisite  majority, 
he  nevertheless  continued  to  be  reeligible,  but  in  competition 
with  others.  His  salary,  which  he  might  refuse,  was  to  be  eight 
hundred  francs,  besides  expenses  of  the  office.  He  was  also  to 
have  a  clerk  with  a  salary  of  six  hundred  francs.  The  treasurer 
was  to  be  elected  by  the  assembly  at  large,  the  term  to  be  two 
years,  with  continued  reeligibility.  The  committee,  consisting 
of  twenty -one  members,  including  the  president,  secretary,  and 
treasurer,  ex-officio,  elected  for  three  years,  seven  at  a  time,  was 
to  have  charge  of  the  business  of  the  society  and  particularly 
of  preparing  translations.  Numerous  other  rules  providing  for 
the  procedure  in  the  meetings  suggest  that  the  society  looked 
forward  to  vigorous,  not  to  say  acrimonious,  discussions.^ 

The  most  striking  thing  about  the  whole  constitution  is  the 
faith  which  it  indicates  on  the  part  of  the  founders  in  the 
growth  of  their  organization  and  the  seriousness  of  their  under- 
taking. Brissot's  apparent  failure  to  have  part  in  it  is  explained 
by  the  fact  that  it  seems  to  have  been  drawn  up  during  his 
absence  in  America.^   The  society  was  hardly  organized  when 

*  The  manuscript  of  the  Reglements  is  found  at  the  library  of  the  Arsenal. 
It  is  printed  in  a  pamphlet  at  the  Bibliotheque  nationale  and  also  by  M.  Cahen 
in  the  article  referred  to  above  in  La  Revolution  frangaise,  June,  1906. 

*  Article  by  M.  Cahen,  referred  to  above. 


A  HUM.\NITARIAN  189 

he  set  out  upon  his  travels.  Indeed,  one  part  of  his  purpose 
in  making  this  journey  was  to  study  the  problem  of  slavery 
in  the  new  world.  Before  starting  he  wTote  to  the  English 
society  of  his  intention,  —  whereupon  they  commended  him  to 
like  societies  at  Philadelphia  and  New  York  and  asked  them 
to  aid  him  in  collecting  information.^ 

In  spite  of  the  formation  of  the  constitution,  the  French 
society,  if  Brissot's  own  account  is  to  be  believed,  languished 
and  nearly  perished  during  his  absence.-  There  certainly  seems 
to  be  no  evidence  of  great  activity  on  its  part  till  the  spring 
of  1789,  when,  after  Brissot's  return  from  America,  it  became 
extremely  active.  In  the  month  of  February  a  meeting  was 
held  to  listen  to  his  report  of  the  slavery  problem  as  he  had  seen 
it  in  America.  This  report  included  a  statement  of  what  had 
been  done  with  regard  to  the  importation  of  slaves,  with  regard 
to  slavery,  the  steps  taken  for  the  education  of  the  negroes  and 
an  explanation  of  the  compromises  in  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  on  the  subject,  and  a  firm  expression  of  belief  in 
the  capacity  of  the  negro.^ 

The  opportunity  now  offered  to  all  classes  of  the  French 
people  to  draw  up  statements  of  their  grievances  was  also  the 
opportunity  of  the  Amis  des  Xoirs,  and  they  lost  no  time  in 
preparing  an  address  to  be  sent  to  all  the  bailliages  of  the  king- 
dom. In  this  address  the  bailliages  were  begged  to  instruct  their 
deputies  to  try  to  induce  the  States-General  to  consider  means 
of  abolishmg  the  slave  trade  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  itself.^  At  the  opening  of  the  States- 
General  they  appointed  a  committee,  of  which  Condorcet  and 
Brissot  were  members,  to  keep  track  of  legislation  and  to 

1  British  Museum,  Proceedings  of  the  committee,  Mms.  21254-21256. 

*  MSmoires,  u,  74. 

3  Memoire  sur  les  noirs  de  VAmeriqne  septenirioncde,  lue  a  VassemhUe  de  la 
Societe  des  Amis  des  Ndrs,  le  9  Janvier,  1789. 

*  The  minutes  of  the  English  committee  for  April  21,  1789,  state  that  a 
translation  of  the  address  of  the  society  in  France  to  the  bailliages  of  that  king- 
dom had  been  sent  to  some  of  the  public  papers  and  that  it  was  resolved  that 
two  thousand  copies  of  the  said  address  be  printed. 


190  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

defend  the  interests  of  the  negro  whenever  they  were  in  ques- 
tion. They  further  drew  up  a  letter  to  M.  Necker  in  criticism 
of  certain  statements  which  he  had  made  in  a  speech  to  the 
States-General  on  the  slave  trade.  ^ 

A  letter  was  also  addressed  "to  the  deputies  of  the  three 
orders  to  urge  them  to  follow  the  example  of  the  English  and 
choose  a  committee  charged  with  examining  the  cause  of  the 
negro."  It  was  signed  simply  "  Un  ami  des  noirs"  but  may 
possibly  have  been  the  work  of  Brissot.  The  slave  trade,  the 
writer  argued,  should  be  abolished  at  once,  and  for  six  reasons: 
(1)  it  was  the  only  cause  of  most  of  the  wars  between  negro 
princes,  and  its  abolition  would  save  the  life  of  a  considerable 
number  of  sailors  and  of  infinite  numbers  of  negroes;  (2)  the 
continuance  of  the  slave  trade  was  ruinous  to  the  nation;  (3)  the 
colonies  could  get  along  without  the  slave  trade,  as  experience 
had  demonstrated;  (4)  it  was  necessary  to  abolish  the  slave 
trade  if  the  colonies  were  to  be  preserved  and  numberless  abuses 
remedied;  (5)  the  negroes  were  sadly  maltreated,  and  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  slave  trade  was  the  only  means  to  ameliorate  their 
condition;  (6)  it  would  be  easy  to  manage  the  revolts  which 
the  planters  predicted  would  be  the  result. 

In  attempting  to  carry  on  its  work  the  society  was  now 
assisted  by  Clarkson,  who  was  sent  over  to  help  them  by  the 
English  society.  The  latter,  evidently  mindful  of  Brissot's 
quixotic  schemes  of  cooperation  at  the  time  of  the  founding  of 
the  Amis  des  Noirs,  feared  that  his  enthusiasm  might  not  be 
properly  balanced  with  caution;  and,  when  the  proposition  was 
made  that  the  two  societies  combine  their  efforts  to  induce  the 
governments  of  their  respective  countries  to  take  concerted 
action  against  the  slave  trade,  the  English  society  perceived 
that  any  such  proposition  coming  from  the  English  side  would 
be  regarded  by  the  French  government  with  suspicion.  Clark- 
son  was  accordingly  warned  to  beware  of  involving  the  English 
society  in  political  complications. ^   When  he  arrived  at  Paris 

1  Lettre  d  M.  Necker. 

2  Life  of  Wilberforce  (ed.  by  R.  I.  and  S.  Wilberforce),  i,  231. 


A  HOL\NIT.\RL\N  191 

in  July,  1789,  he  found  that  the  enthusiasm  of  many  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Amis  des  Xoirs  had  somewhat  died  down.^  It  would, 
perhaps,  be  more  correct  to  say  that  they  were  so  actively  en- 
gaged in  actual  revolution  that  they  had  no  time  left  to  thmk 
of  a  reform  which  was  not  a  matter  of  immediate  and  press- 
ing importance.    Those  members  of  the  society  who  were  also 
members  of  the  National  Assembly  were  almost  constantly 
engaged  at  Versailles,  those  who  were  connected  with  the 
municipal  government  were  absorbed  in  their  work  at  the 
hotel  de  ville,  while  others  were  occupied  in  learning  the  use  of 
arms  or  in  doing  guard  duty.    Attendance  at  the  mectmgs  of 
the  societv  naturally  fell  off,  and  although  Clarkson  had  been 
introduced  to  the  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld,  Condorcet,  Potion, 
Claviere,  Brissot,  and  Lafayette  as  active  workers,  when  he 
came  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  committee,  he  was  surprised 
to  find  that  Brissot  was  the  only  one  of  those  mentioned  who 
was  present. 

The  zeal  of  those  who  were  there  was  unabated,  lliey  de- 
cided to  seek  an  audience  with  M.  Necker,  through  Clarkson 
who  was  to  be  accompanied  by  Condorcet,  De  Bourges,  and 
Brissot;  also  to  write  to  the  president  of  the  National  Assembly, 
asking  him  to  appoint  a  day  to  hear  the  cause  of  the  negro. 
They  further  proposed  to  recommend  to  the  committee  in  Lon- 
don to  draw  up  a  petition  to  be  signed  by  as  many  as  possible 
of  the  friends  of  the  cause  in  England,  and  addressed  to  the 
National  Assembly  of  France,  praying  for  the  abolition  of  the 
slave  trade  by  the  French  government.  As  delicately  as  he 
could  Clarkson  insinuated  the  impropriety  of  the  last  motion, 
but  the  committee  would  not  listen  to  him  for  a  moment.  "  The 
National  Assembly  of  France,"  they  declared,  "would  glory  in 
going  contrary-  to  the  example  of  other  nations  in  a  case  of 
generosity  and  justice."  Finding  his  protests  in  vain,  Clarkson 
could  only  reply  that  he  would  communicate  the  measure  to  the 

1  Clarkson.  History  of  the  rise,  progress  and  accomplishment  of  the  abolition 
of  the  African  slave  trade,  ii.  chap.  n.  What  follows  concerning  the  work  of 
the  society  and  its  friends  till  the  end  of  1789  is  also  from  Clarkson. 


192  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

committee  in  London,  but  that  he  could  not  answer  for  the 
part  that  they  would  take  in  it.  He  was  soon  proved  to  be 
right  in  his  assumption  as  to  the  attitude  of  the  English  com- 
mittee, for  they  refused  unequivocally  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  such  a  petition.  Neither  did  the  other  measures  taken  at 
this  meeting  come  to  anything,  for,  though  Necker  did  grant 
the  delegation  a  very  brief  interview,  he  had  far  too  overwhelm- 
ing responsibilities  of  his  own  in  trying  to  manage  the  finances, 
to  give  any  attention  to  the  African  slave  trade;  and  if  the 
president  of  the  Assembly  answered  their  letter,  they  never 
received  it. 

At  the  next  meeting  they  decided  to  write  again  to  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Assembly.  A  new  president  had  come  into  oflBce 
and  might  be  more  friendly  to  their  cause.  Furthermore,  it  was 
necessary,  they  declared,  to  bestir  themselves  in  order  to  meet 
the  machinations  of  the  merchants,  planters,  and  others  inter- 
ested in  the  slave  trade,  who  were  holding  daily  meetings  to 
watch  and  thwart  the  plans  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs.  As  no  answer 
was  received  to  this  letter  either,  they  made  up  their  minds 
that  it  had  been  intercepted.  They  seem  to  have  had  some 
reason  for  their  suspicions,  for,  at  the  follo\\4ng  meeting, 
Claviere  produced  anonymous  letters  which  he  had  received 
and  in  which  it  was  stated  that  if  the  society  did  not  dissolve 
he  and  the  rest  of  the  members  would  be  stabbed,  and  that 
three  hundred  persons  had  banded  together  prepared  to  carry 
out  these  threats.  Clarkson  had  also  received  similar  letters, 
which,  on  examination,  proved  to  be  written  by  the  same  hand 
as  those  received  by  Claviere.  Not  content  with  threats,  the 
enemies  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs  attacked  them  through  the  press, 
charging  them  with  the  intention  of  sending  twelve  thousand 
muskets  to  Santo  Domingo  in  order  to  promote  an  insurrection 
in  that  island.^  These  rumors  were  so  industriously  circulated 

^  It  was  also  charged  that  the  society  was  run  by  foreigners.  See  Lettre  aux 
bailliages  de  France,  December  1,  1789.  "  Les  sieurs  Clai'ieres  [sic]  et  du  Rorray 
sont  les  chefs  de  cette  Secte  infdme,  ce  sont  devx  Genevois  qui  ont  Ste  chassis  de  leur 
Patrie  pour  sSdition.  Le  norrnnS  Clarkson,  Anglais,  est  aussi  a  Paris  dcpuis  queU 
ques  mois,  s'il  y  ripand  I' argent  de  VAngleterre,  celle-ci  n'y  perd  rien;  c'estsemer 


A  HU^L\XIT.\RIAN  193 

that  soldiers  were  sent  to  search  the  committee  rooms.  When, 
however,  they  found  only  two  or  three  books  and  some  waste 
paper,  they  retired  in  much  disgust.  Meanwhile,  Clarkson 
realized  that  his  prominence  in  the  movement  put  him  in  very 
real  danger.  He  therefore  moved  from  his  first  lodgings  to  a 
hotel  near  Lafayette,  in  order  to  be  withm  reach  of  his  protec- 
tion, and  it  was  agreed  that  if  any  unusual  gathering  about  the 
hotel  seemed  to  portend  danger,  Lafayette  should  be  notified 
at  once,  when  he  would  send  a  detachment  of  his  troops  to  the 
rescue.  The  danger  may  have  been  exaggerated,  but  its  evident 
existence  is  a  proof  of  the  influence  which  the  Amis  des  Noirs 
were  supposed  to  possess. 

As  to  the  extent  of  their  possible  influence  upon  legislation 
they  themselves  seem  to  have  been  somewhat  doubtful; 
and,  when  at  one  of  their  meetings  the  question  was  raised 
whether  a  proposition  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  could 
be  made  in  the  existing  Assembly  with  any  hope  of  success,  or 
whether  it  would  be  better  to  wait  till  the  next  one,  there  was 
much  difference  of  opinion.  Of  those  who  were  for  its  presenta- 
tion in  the  present  Assembly,  Mirabeau  was  the  most  enthusias- 
tic and  prepared  with  ardor  to  be  the  spokesman  of  the  cause.  ^ 
He  wrote  a  speech  on  the  subject,  begged  Clarkson  to  furnish 
him  with  facts  and  details,  went  about  sounding  opinion  on  the 
matter,  and  assisted  in  the  distribution  of  literature  calculated 
to  arouse  sympathy  for  the  negro.  This  was  furnished  largely 

jxmr  recueillir,  d  ce3  Strangers  s'est  joint  le  aieur  Brissot  de  Warville,  fils  d'un 
Patissier  de  Chartres,  chasse  dc  chez  sea  parens  5  cause  de  son  esprit  bouillon  et 
sHUieux.  II  a  ajoute  le  nom  de  Warville  au  sien,  pour  mieux  Jraterniser  avec  lea 
Anglois  nos  ennemis.  Le  sieur  Brissot  de  Warville  regoit  chaque  jour  le  salaire 
de  son  adoption.  Lecteurs,  observez  que  son  role  est  absolument  I'inverse  de  celui  du 
sieur  Clarkson,  Vun  donne  de  I'argent  pour  enricher  sa  Patrie,  V autre  en  recoit 
pour  la  ruiner." 

^  Clarkson  quotes  Lafayette  as  saying:  "Mirabeau  is  a  host  in  himself  and  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  by  his  own  eloquence  and  popularity  only  he  were  to 
carry  it;  and  yet  I  regret  that  he  has  taken  the  lead  in  it.  The  cause  is  so  lovely 
that  even  ambition,  abstractedly  [sic]  considered,  is  too  impure  to  take  it  under 
its  protection,  and  not  to  sully  it.  It  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  most 
virtuous  man  in  France.  This  man  is  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucauld."  History, 
II,  146. 


194  BRISSOT  DE  WAHVILLE 

by  Clarkson  and  included  a  thousand  copies  of  a  slave  ship  — 
that  horror  so  well  described  by  Mirabeau  as  a  long  coffin  — 
and  five  hundred  engravings  which  were  distributed  by  the 
members  of  the  society.  It  did  arouse  sympathy,  but  it  also 
aroused  the  colonial  planters  and  traders  whose  interests  were 
at  stake.  ^  The  latter  immediately  began  a  counter  agitation, 
circulated  literature  in  their  own  interest,  offered  money  to 
Mirabeau,  and  worked  to  so  good  an  effect  in  stirring  up  public 
opinion  in  their  favor,  that,  when  Mirabeau  came  to  canvass 
the  Assembly  with  a  view  to  discovering  how  much  support  he 
could  count  on  for  a  measure  to  abolish  the  slave  trade,  he 
found  that  a  like  canvass  had  already  been  made  by  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  planters  and  that  the  cause  was  for  the  time 
being  hopeless.  Perceiving  that  further  immediate  action,  at 
least  on  this  particular  phase  of  the  negro  question,  was  not 
probable,  Clarkson  soon  returned  to  England. 

The  planters  had  already  increased  their  strength  by  organ- 
izing themselves  into  a  club  named  the  Club  des  Colons  Blancs, 
or  as  it  soon  came  to  be  knowTi  from  its  place  of  meeting,  the 
Club  de  Massiac,  formed  for  the  express  purpose  of  fighting  the 
Amis  des  Noirs.  From  the  summer  of  1789  there  was  constant 
combat  between  the  two  organizations. ^  The  ranks  of  the  lat- 
ter continued  to  be  led  by  Brissot,  who  was  untiring  in  his  zeal 
in  behalf  of  the  negro  and  mulatto.  He  wTote  addresses  in  the 
name  of  the  society,  presented  the  cause  at  the  Jacobin  Club,^ 
tried,  though  unsuccessfully,  to  work  through  municipal  organi- 
zations,'* denounced  the  leaders  of  the  opposition,  and  above  all 
made  the  Patrioie  Frangais  the  champion  of  the  negro.  In  fact, 
his  newspaper  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  official  organ  of  the 
Amis  des  Noirs.  From  almost  the  first  issue  he  devoted  a  large 
amount  of  space  to  the  affairs  of  the  society  and  to  the  objects 
for  which  it  was  working.  He  dwelt  on  the  horrors  of  the  slave 

1  The  king,  it  seems,  had  some  time  before  been  approached  and  asked  to 
dissolve  the  society,  but  had  refused.  See  report  of  a  speech  of  Wilberforce  in 
the  House  of  Conunons,  May  21,  1789.  Courrier  de  l' Europe,  May  22,  1789. 

*  Challamel,  Les  ChAs  contre-rewliUionnaires,  67-69. 

8  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  n,  412.  *  See  p.  105. 


A  HU:\LVNITARL\N  195 

trade,  published  a  list  of  books  advocating  abolition,  gave 
reports  of  meetings  of  the  society,  entered  into  sharp  contro- 
versy with  hostile  newspapers,  and  at  epochs  at  which  colonial 
questions  were  under  discussion  filled  his  columns  with  reports 
on  this  subject  to  the  exclusion  of  almost  everything  else. 

The  opening  of  the  States-General  had  raised  new  problems 
regarding  the  situation  in  the  French  colonies.  The  Amis  des 
Noirs  thus  had  to  deal  not  only  with  the  slave  trade  but  also 
with  questions  of  more  immediate  policy.  The  situation  was 
this:  The  population  of  Santo  Domingo  —  the  largest  and  most 
important  of  the  French  colonies  —  was  divided  into  three  dis- 
tinctly marked  classes:  the  whites,  including  the  planters  and 
the  merchants  of  the  cities,  the  mulattoes,  and  the  slaves.  The 
whites  were  aristocratic  in  spirit,  if  not  by  birth,  and  looked 
down  with  scorn  both  upon  the  negroes  and  upon  the  mulat- 
toes. The  latter  were  for  the  most  part  the  free  descendants  of 
white  settlers  and  their  negro  slaves,  in  many  cases  they  were 
themselves  slaveholders,  but  they  were  regarded  as  colored 
men.  All  three  classes  alike  were  eager  to  seize  upon  the  liberty 
promised  by  the  Revolution,  but,  as  a  recent  writer  has  well 
said,  each  class  wanted  to  put  upon  that  magic  word  its  owti 
interpretation.^  To  the  whites  it  meant  local  government  with 
as  little  interference  from  France  as  possible;  to  the  mulattoes 
it  meant  participation  in  that  local  government;  to  the  negroes 
freedom.  In  order  to  secure  their  own  ends,  the  whites  decided 
to  send  to  the  States-General  at  Paris  delegates  who  would 
represent  them  alone;  and  in  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  the 
governor  of  Santo  Domingo,  assemblies  were  formed  to  hold 
the  elections.  But  to  gain  admission  for  these  representatives 
they  found  a  difficult  matter.  As  the  delegates  from  Santo 
Domingo  represented  only  a  small  section  of  the  population  — 
a  section  which  did  not  include  even  the  mulattoes  —  the  ques- 
tion was  at  once  raised  whether  they  could  rightfully  be  con- 
sidered as  representatives  at  all.  This,  in  turn,  involved  the 
fundamental  question:  were  the  principles  of  the  declaration 
1  Mills,  Early  Years  of  the  French  Revolution  in  San  Domingo,  24. 


196  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

of  rights  —  liberty,  equality,  and  popular  sovereignty  — 
really  applicable  to  the  colonies?  In  other  words,  how  far  had 
the  colonies  a  right  to  local  government?  should  the  slaves  be 
ultimately  freed?  and  in  the  mean  time  should  the  mulattoes 
be  admitted  to  the  rights  of  citizenship? 

The  immediate  question  was  settled  tentatively  by  the  ad- 
mission to  the  States-General  of  six  of  the  deputies  from  Santo 
Domingo.  Against  this  measure  Brissot  protested  vigorously. 
The  colonies  were  too  far  away,  he  declared,  their  interests  too 
different  from  those  of  the  mother  country,  to  permit  them  to 
be  governed  by  the  same  system.  And,  in  this  particular  case, 
the  election  of  the  deputies  was  neither  free  nor  valid;  and  even 
if  it  were,  the  number  of  deputies  was  too  great;  the  same  pro- 
portion should  be  followed  as  in  France,  which  would  give  them 
only  one.  Furthermore,  the  admission  of  too  large  a  number  of 
such  deputies  from  the  colonies  would  prejudice  the  interests 
of  the  negro  and  mulatto.^ 

The  other  fundamental  questions  involved  were  the  admis- 
sion of  the  mulattoes  to  rights  of  citizenship  and  the  measure 
of  self-government  to  be  allowed  the  colonies.  These  two  ques- 
tions were  closely  connected,  for  to  give  the  colonies  full  leg- 
islative independence  meant  inevitably  that  they  would  act 
against  and  not  for  the  mulattoes.  The  most  active  support  for 
the  latter  came  from  the  society  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs  and  the 
most  bitter  opposition  from  the  Club  des  Colons  Blancs.  In 
regard  to  the  question  of  self-government  there  were  many 
shades  of  opinion,  both  as  to  its  extent  and  the  way  in  which  it 
should  be  exercised.  The  extreme  royalists  held  that  the  colony 
should  remain  under  the  absolute  and  exclusive  rule  of  the  king; 
the  Club  de  Massiac  thought  that  the  king  and  a  colonial  assem- 
bly composed  exclusively  of  whites  should  govern;  the  Amis  des 
Noirs  demanded  a  local  government  in  which  the  rights  of  the 
mulattoes  should  be  guaranteed;  the  delegates  themselves 

*  Reflexions  sur  V admission  aux  £tats-GenSraux  des  deputes  de  Saint-Do- 
mingue.  See  also  the  Moniteur  of  July  4,  1789.  Twenty  was  the  number  asked 
for,  twelve  had  been  admitted  previously.   Moniteur,  session  of  Jime  27, 1789. 


A  HU^L\NIT.\RL\N  197 

wanted  to  keep  the  power  in  their  own  hands  as  much  as  pos- 
sible and  to  govern  with  the  aid  of  a  committee  appointed  by 
the  National  Assembly;  while  the  greater  part  of  the  Assembly 
was  suspicious  of  all  these  factions  and  desired  to  keep  the 
colony  under  its  own  immediate  control.^ 

Meanwhile  the  mulattoes  were  clamormg  for  equal  rights 
with  the  whites.  They  had  even  sent  deputies  from  their  num- 
ber to  beg  for  admission  to  the  National  Assembly.  One  of 
them,  M.  Joly,  presented  himself  to  the  Assembly  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Commune,  asking  for  their  support.  This 
demand  was  enthusiastically  backed  by  Brissot,  who  thus 
brought  upon  himself  a  sharp  reprimand  from  the  Revolutiuns 
de  Paris  which  inquired  tartly  why  he  was  diverting  the  muni- 
cipal assembly  from  its  proper  busmess  of  drawmg  up  a  city 
charter.2 

At  the  same  time  that  Brissot  was  defending  the  cause  of  the 
mulattoes  before  the  municipal  assembly,  he  did  not  for  a  mo- 
ment relax  his  efforts  against  the  slave  trade,^  urged  the  Amis 
des  Xuirs  to  renewed  efforts,^  and  carried  on  his  propaganda 
through  the  press.  The  8th  of  January,  for  example,  the  Pa- 
triote  Franqais  ^NTote:  "The  Assembly,  by  its  decree  that  we 
men  are  born  and  remain  free  and  equal,  has  it  not  declared 
war  on  every  kind  of  mequality,  oppression  and  tyranny,  has  it 
not  declared  that  no  man  can  ever  be  bought  or  sold  or  kept 
in  slavery-?  The  hatred  of  the  Assembly  for  all  kinds  of  injus- 
tice, its  zeal  m  destroying  all  sorts  of  abuses,  even  those  which 
might  be  useful  to  it,  the  spirit  of  justice  and  humanity  by 
which  it  is  dominated,  are  not  these  guaranties  for  the  pro- 
scription of  the  slave  trade?"  ^ 

In  defense,  the  planters  and  theur  friends  declared  that  the 

»  Mills,  Early  Years  of  the  French  Revolution  in  San  Domingo. 

8  Revolutions  de  Paris,  February  13-20,  1790. 

3  Pairiote  Franqais,  January  27,  1790. 

«  Address  by  Brissot  to  the  Socieie  des  Amis  des  Noirs.  The  society  passed  a 
vote  of  thanks  to  Bemardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  for  his  defense  of  the  negro  in  his 
work  Vwux  d'un  Solitaire.  Patriate  Frangais,  January-  19,  1790. 

6  Pairiote  Franqais,  January  8,  1790. 


198  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Amis  des  Noirs  were  acting  on  entirely  wrong  premises.  The 
so-called  philanthropists  talked  about  the  horrors  of  the  slave 
trade  and  of  slavery;  they  would  do  well  to  consider  how  much 
better  off  the  negroes  were  as  slaves  in  the  French  colonies  than 
at  home  in  Africa,  and  indeed  than  many  a  French  peasant.^ 
Instead  of  bettering  conditions,  the  schemes  of  the  Amis  des 
Noirs  would  only  make  them  worse.  Indeed,  their  talk  of  abol- 
ishing the  slave  trade  and  slavery  had  already  occasioned  an 
insurrection  in  Martinique  which  threatened  to  spread  and  do 
incalculable  harm.^  Sopersistent  was  this  rumor  that  the  ^m  15 
des  Noirs  were  working  for  the  immediate  abolition  of  slavery 
as  well  as  of  the  slave  trade,  that  the  society  was  moved  to 
make  formal  and  official  denial  of  any  such  intention.  This 
statement  was  drawn  up  by  Brissot  and  presented  to  the 
National  Assembly,  January  21,  1790.^  No  such  idea,  he 
declared,  had  ever  entered  their  minds.  They  were  only  too 
well  aware  that  the  immediate  freeing  of  the  negroes  would  not 
only  be  a  fatal  step  for  the  colonies  but  also  a  fatal  present  for 
the  negroes  themselves. 

In  issuing  this  clear  and  emphatic  statement  as  to  their 
immediate  purpose,  the  Amis  des  Noirs  made  it  equally  clear 
that  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  still  their  ultimate  purpose, 
nor  did  they  retreat  a  step  from  their  position  on  the  abolition 
of  the  slave  trade.  Indeed,  the  above  protest  was  coupled  with 
a  plea  for  such  abolition.  It  had  been  asserted  again  and  again 
that  to  do  away  with  the  slave  trade  would  be  to  ruin  the 
French  colonies  and  seriously  injure  the  French  marine  and 
French  manufacturers.  This  the  Amis  des  Noirs  strenuously 
denied.  Even  if  such  claims  were  true,  what  weight,  they 
asked,  are  the  mere  gains  of  commerce,  when  compared  with 

*  Lettre  de  M S  Brissot  de  Warville,  president  de  la  society  des  Amis  des 

Noirs. 

2  See  Journal  de  Paris,  December  28,  1789,  Lettre  de  M.  Mosneron. 

'  Archives  parlementaires,  xi,  271-77.  This  probably  is  the  address  of  which 
Brissot  presented  two  hundred  copies  to  the  municipal  assembly  January  5, 
and  eight  hundred  more  copies  February  13.  Lacroix,  Actes  de  la  Commune,  m, 
366,  370;  iv,  100. 


A  HOLINITARL^N  199 

the  blood  of  thousands  of  men  shed  every  year?  But  they  were 
not  true.  The  small  number  of  vessels  engaged  in  the  slave 
trade  could  be  put  to  other  uses,  the  lives  of  great  numbers  of 
sailors  would  be  spared,  the  bonus,  now  a  hea\'y  drain,  would 
be  saved;  and,  as  for  the  slaves,  if  their  number  could  not  be 
augmented,  they  would  be  treated  with  more  humanity  and 
so  would  increase  faster,  and  the  colonists  would  not  have  to 
contract  heavy  debts  in  order  to  buy  slaves.  Furthermore, 
French  manufacturers  would  reap  advantage,  for  some  of  the 
money  hitherto  spent  for  slaves  would  be  spent  in  buying 
French  products.  What  if  a  temporary  disturbance  did  result.'^ 
France  had  not  hesitated  for  that  reason  to  make  sweeping 
reforms  at  home. 

These  arguments  failed,  however,  to  convince  the  Assembly, 
for  within  a  couple  of  weeks  when  the  question  of  the  rights  of 
the  mulattoes  and  the  powers  of  the  local  colonial  assemblies 
again  came  up  it  passed  decrees  which,  while  they  did  not  men- 
tion the  slave  trade  by  name,  were  distinctly  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  the  above  demands.  The  measure  as  finally  passed 
March  8,  1790,  was  pushed  through  largely  by  the  efforts  of 
Barnave  and  represented  a  comj)romise  between  many  con- 
flicting claims  and  interests.  By  its  terms  each  colony  was 
allowed  to  make  known  to  the  National  Assembly  its  wishes  in 
regard  to  a  constitution  and  form  of  administration,  and  colo- 
nial assemblies  were  given  the  right  to  offer  suggestions  on 
decrees  passed  by  the  National  Assembly  concerning  munici- 
palities and  administrative  assemblies.  Finally,  the  colonies 
were  assiu-ed  that  no  radical  changes  in  regard  to  commerce 
were  contemplated  and  that  they  and  their  property  were 
under  the  protection  of  the  Assembly.  These  provisions,  by 
which  the  colonies  were  given  at  least  some  show  of  power,  were 
sufficiently  ambiguous  to  satisfy  both  the  Club  de  Massiac 
and  the  representatives  from  Santo  Domingo,  as  well  as  the 
majority  of  the  Assembly.  But  to  the  hopes  of  the  mulattoes 
and  to  the  Amis  des  Xoirs  this  decree  was  a  decisive  blow.  It 
virtually  put  colonial  affairs  under  the  control  of  the  whites  in 


200  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  islands,  and  the  mulattoes  did  not  need  an  interpreter  to 
tell  them  what  that  meant. 

Brissot  was  almost  broken-hearted.  A  few  daj's  before  the 
decree  was  passed  he  had  declared  that  on  account  of  the  hatred 
which  the  whites  manifested  for  the  mulattoes,  it  would  be 
extremely  dangerous  to  give  over  to  the  former  the  task  of 
drawing  up  a  colonial  code.  That  code  should  be  made  in 
France  by  a  disinterested  Assembly.^  He  now  bitterly  up- 
braided Barnave  and  declared  that  he  could  not  conceive  how 
Barnave  could  have  consented  to  further  such  a  measure.  This 
measure,  Brissot  maintained,  was  obviously  unfair  to  the  mu- 
lattoes; furthermore,  by  its  provision  for  criminal  proceedings 
against  any  one  who  should  work  to  bring  about  risings  against 
the  planters,  it  opened  the  way  for  rank  injustice  to  the  Amis 
des  Noirs.^  He  saw  some  hope,  however,  in  the  instructions 
drawn  up  for  the  formation  of  local  colonial  assembUes,  which 
provided  that  all  persons  twenty-five  years  of  age,  who  were 
proprietors,  or  who  had  lived  two  years  in  the  parish  and  paid 
a  tax,  should  form  the  parochial  assembly.  The  mulattoes 
must  be  held  to  be  included  in  this  decree,  he  declared,  though 
they  ought  to  have  been  specifically  named;  and  from  the  fact 
that  they  were  not,  he  predicted  trouble  between  the  whites 
and  the  mulattoes.' 

Trouble  soon  arrived  for  the  Amis  des  Noirs.  As  Brissot  had 
foreseen,  the  clause  of  the  decree  of  March  8,  which  had  de- 
clared criminal  all  attempts  to  excite  risings  against  the  plant- 
ers, was  invoked  to  stop  the  work  of  the  society.  The  Amis  des 
Noirs  accordingly  drew  up  another  address  to  the  Assembly, 
in  which  they  protested  against  this  interpretation  and  declared 
their  confidence  that  such  had  not  been  the  intention  of  the 
Assembly.*   Meantime,  they  proceeded  to  show  not  only  that 

^  Patrwte  Franqais,  March  1,  1790. 

2  Ihid.,  March  9,  1790.  '  Ihid.,  March  29,  1790. 

*  Seconde  addresse  a  VAssemhUe  nationale  par  la  society  des  Amis  des  Noirs, 
9  avril,  1790.  Presented  to  the  National  Assembly  the  10th  of  April,  accord- 
ing to  the  Archives  parkmentaires,  xn,  627.  The  Assembly  apparently  took  no 
action  on  this  address. 


A  HU^L\XITARL\N  201 

"the  decree  of  March  8  had  not  closed  their  mouths"  but 
that  they  were  going  to  make  themselves  heard  even  more 
plainly  than  before.  To  this  end,  they  issued  an  outline  of  the 
work  they  proposed  to  do,  addressed  this  time  not  to  the 
Assembly,  but  to  the  "friends  of  humanity."  ^  Considering 
the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  WTitten,  it  was  nothing 
short  of  a  blast  of  defiance. 

Despite  the  efforts  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs  they  seemed  to  lose 
rather  than  to  gain  ground,  for  on  October  1-2,  on  the  propo- 
sition of  Barnave,  a  decree  was  passed  which  interj)reted  the 
previous  decree  of  the  Assembly  as  a  virtual  promise  to  take  no 
action  on  the  status  of  any  of  the  inliabitants  of  the  colonies  ex- 
cept on  the  request  of  the  colonial  assemblies.  In  other  words, 
the  status  of  the  mulattoes  was  left  to  the  whites  in  the  colo- 
nies, which  meant,  of  course,  that  they  would  certainly  not  be 
given  the  rights  of  citizens.  If  Brissot  had  spoken  of  Barnave 's 
attitude  toward  the  March  decrees  with  grieved  surprise,  he 
now  attacked  him  with  venom  and  denounced  his  entire  colo- 
nial policy  as  worthy  of  execration.  The  rights  of  man  were 
involved,  Brissot  declared,  and  the  Assembly  had  no  power  to 
pass  any  decree  upon  the  rights  of  man,  whether  in  France  or 
in  the  colonies;  it  could  never  make  them  the  suljject  of  a 
constitutional  article;  they  were  fundamental  and  preceded  all 
constitutions.  Moreover,  "nothing  that  was  unjust  could  be 
good  politically,"  as  was  proved  by  recent  events  in  the  colo- 
nies. AU  their  evils  were  due  to  the  decrees  of  March  and 
October,  and  unless  these  decrees  were  changed  the  colonies 
would  become  independent.  Furthermore,  Barnave  had  not 
only  furthered  a  bad  policy  but  he  had  done  it  in  Ijad  faith. 2 

^  Journal  de  Parw,  June  15,  July  27,  1790.   Palriote  Francois,  July  1,  1790. 

*  Letire  a  M.  Barnave.  Brissot  subsequently  accused  M.  Tremondrie,  the 
president  of  one  of  the  colonial  assemblies,  of  having  misquoted  instructions 
Viiih.  regard  to  primary  elections,  so  that  they  appeared  to  have  discriminated 
unjustly  against  the  mulattoes.  That  he  had  done  so  M.  Tremondrie  denied 
and  declared  that  his  assertion  would  be  found  to  be  true  if  his  instructions, 
which  Brissot  had  cited  only  in  part,  had  been  cited  in  full.  Journal  de 
Paris,  December  1,  1790.  Lcttre  a  Barnave,  32,  note  2.  The  Palriote  FranQaia 
ridiculed  M.  Tremondrie's  explanations. 


202  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  assertion  contained  in  the  preamble,  that  the  Assembly 
did  not  intend  to  take  action  on  the  status  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  colonies  except  at  the  instigation  of  the  colonial  assem- 
blies, Brissot  declared  to  be  "  at  the  same  time  a  lie  and  a  base 
abandonment  of  all  principles  of  humanity,  liberty,  justice  and 
prudence."  Such  an  assertion  not  only  was  infamous,  but  the 
way  in  which  the  decree  was  passed  was  an  outrage,  for  there 
was  no  discussion,  and  the  Abbe  Gregoire,  Petion,  and  Mira- 
beau,  who  wanted  to  speak,  were  prevented.  "  Enemies  of  lib- 
erty and  humanity,"  he  cried,  addressing  Barnave  and  the 
other  partisans  of  the  measure,  "you  shall  not  triumph  forever. 
It  is  impossible  that  Heaven  which  has  wished  us  to  be  free 
should  not  desire  justice  for  all  men.  .  .  .  Thus  the  names  of 
those  who  have  contributed  to  iniquity  shall  be  branded 
forever  in  pubhc  opinion;  such  is  the  lot  which  awaits 
M.  Barnave." 

By  passing  this  constitutional  decree  the  Assembly  evidently 
regarded  the  matter  as  settled.  But  Brissot  did  not  propose 
to  consider  it  settled.  He  wrote  to  his  friend  Lanthenas,  beg- 
ging him  to  return  to  Paris  to  help  him  defend  the  cause  of  the 
mulattoes,^  assailed  their  enemies  in  the  columns  of  the  Patriote 
Frangais,  and  entered  upon  a  vigorous  campaign  for  the  repeal 
of  the  decrees  of  March  and  October.  He  even  upheld  the 
mulatto  insurrection  which  had  broken  out  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Oge;  and,  in  an  article,  which  considering  the  circum- 
stances was  more  eloquent  than  timely  or  politic,  made  a  stir- 
ring appeal  in  their  behalf.  "  I  implore  those  planters  resident 
in  the  islands,"  he  wrote,  "who  have  a  real  interest  in  their 
prosperity,  to  look  upon  the  mulattoes  as  their  best  support, 
their  friends,  their  brothers;  I  implore  those  French  capitalists 
who  have  immense  mortgages  upon  our  islands  to  reflect  that 
the  payment  of  those  debts  depends  on  the  general  prosperity; 
that  prosperity  cannot  exist  under  oppression  because  of  the 

1  See  letter  of  Lanthenas  to  Bangal,  November  30,  1790.  "Brissot  me  jrresse 
de  retourner  a  Paris  cet  hiver,  pour  defendre  les  noirs."  Lettres  de  Madame 
Roland,  ii,  204-. 


A  HUMANITARIAN  203 

ever  present  danger  of  insurrection.  ...  I  implore  the  French 
merchants  who  supply  the  islands  with  provisions  to  reflect 
that  it  is  to  their  interest  to  increase  the  number  of  well-to-do 
consumers,  to  multiply  the  population."  The  obvious  means  to 
this  end,  Brissot  declared,  was  to  render  justice  to  the  mulat- 
toes.^  As  for  Oge's  attempt  to  wrest  justice  from  the  planters 
by  force,  instead  of  condemning  him  for  incitmg  an  uprising, 
Brissot  praised  his  moderation  and  pointed  out  that  he  had 
made  no  demands  m  regard  to  slavery.  The  deed  for  which 
Oge  was  counted  as  a  criminal,  he  declared,  far  from  being  a 
crime  "was  an  act  of  virtue,  a  duty,  a  sacred  duty."  "The 
conquerors  of  the  Bastille,"  he  added, "  are  heroes,  and  for  a 
like  act  of  heroism  M.  Oge  is  to  be  condemned,"  ^ 

Such  doctrines  on  Brissot's  part,  backed,  as  it  was  felt  they 
were,  by  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  aroused  the  planters  and  their 
friends  to  angry  opposition.  Gouy  D'Arsy,  a  colonist  of  title 
and  importance,  declared  that  the  negro  slaves  were  well  off 
and  would  themselves  resent  the  efforts  in  their  behalf,  and 
that  in  espousing  the  cause  of  the  mulattoes  Brissot  was  seek- 
ing merely  his  own  glory,  and  that  he  and  the  other  Amis  des 
Noirs  were  actuated  by  motives  of  cupidity.^  Further,  Arthur 
Dillon,  a  deputy  from  Martinique,  made  a  speech  before  the 
Assembly,  in  which  he  accused  the  Amis  des  Noirs  of  deliber- 
ately provoking  the  disasters  in  the  colonies  by  their  publica- 
tions,* and  insinuated  that  they  were  in  the  pay  of  foreign 
powers.  A  movement  was  set  on  foot  at  Bordeaux  to  petition 
the  Assembly  to  change  the  preamble  of  the  decree  of  Octo- 
ber 12  into  a  constitutional  article;  ^  an  address  from  Nantes 
demanded  not  only  that  the  decree  of  October  12  be  main- 
tained, but  that  the  most  absolute  silence  be  imposed  on  all 
those  pretended  reformers,  whether  or  not  members  of  the 
society  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  who  were  attemptmg  to  decide 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  January  5,  1791.  ^  Ibid. 

'  Gouy  D'Arsy,  Premiere  et  derniere  lettre. 
*  Patriote  Frangais,  March  4,  15,  1791. 

B  Extrait  des  lettres  de  Bordeaux,  February  22, 1791,  in  the  Patriote  Franqais, 
March  2,  1791. 


204  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

matters  in  which  they  were  in  no  degree  experts;  ^  while  ISIoreau 
de  Saint-Mery,one  of  the  most  important  colonists,  in  a  lengthy 
pamphlet,  addressed  to  "the  true  friends  of  the  peace  and  hap- 
piness of  France  on  the  occasion  of  the  renewed  agitation  of  the 
so-called  Amis  des  Noirs,"  denounced  the  society  as  responsible 
for  everything  which  had  happened  in  the  colonies,  charged 
that  they  had  desired,  advised,  and  preached  a  revolt  of  the 
slaves,  and  that  Brissot  at  best  was  a  delirious  creature  who 
pretended  to  be  a  philosopher. ^ 

Under  these  accusations  and  attacks,  which  certainly  showed 
that  the  Amis  des  Noirs  had  made  themselves  a  force  to  be 
reckoned  with  and  had  thoroughly  frightened  the  planters,  the 
former  naturally  did  not  remain  silent,  either  as  individuals  or 
as  a  society.  Brissot  was  cut  to  the  quick  by  Gouy's  insinua- 
tions of  personal  motive,  as  is  evident  from  the  vituperative 
terms  of  his  answer.  Gouy  was  a  wretch,  he  declared,  with  his 
lies  and  impertinence,  a  dangerous  wretch  without  credit  or 
standing;  while  he  (Brissot)  was  a  Cato,  or  a  Cicero  denouncing 
Catiline.^ 

As  for  the  accusation  of  Dillon,  the  society  of  the  Amis  des 
Noirs  in  its  WTath  laid  formal  complaint  before  the  Assembly, 
in  which  they  demanded  that  the  Assembly  either  censure  M. 
Dillon  or  that  it  allow  the  society  to  hale  him  before  the  courts 
for  libel.  As  was  promptly  pointed  out,  this  came  dangerously 
near  infringing  the  inviolability  of  members  of  the  legislative 
body.  The  society  maintained,  however,  that  such  inviolability 
concerned  only  matters  of  opinion  and  ought  not  to  be  used  as 
an  excuse  for  calumniating  private  citizens.  From  the  neces- 
sity of  deciding  this  delicate  point  the  Assembly  was  rescued 
by  an  explanation  made  in  behalf  of  M.  Dillon  by  one  of  his 
friends,  to  the  effect  that  he  did  not  intend  to  inculpate  the 
entire  society  —  an  explanation  which  the  Assembly  accepted 

*  Perfldie  du  systeme  des  Amis  des  Noirs,  Nantes,  February-  23,  1791. 
2  Con»idirations  presentees  aux  vrais  amis  du  repos  et  du  bonheur  de  la  France 
&  Voccasion  des  noureaux  mouvements  de  quelques  soi-disant  Amis  des  Noirs. 
'  Replique  de  J.  P.  Brissot. 


A  HOL\NITARIAN  205 

as  sufficient,  though  it  by  no  means  satisfied  the  Amis  des 

Noirs.^ 

The  society  next  proceeded  to  issue  a  general  statement  of 
its  principles  —  a  kind  of  campaign  platform  —  the  immediate 
occasion  for  which  was  a  renewed  demand  on  the  part  of  the 
planters  that  the  decision  of  colonial  affairs  be  left  to  the  whites 
alone.    It  was  drawn  up  by  Claviere  and  addressed  to  the 
National  Assembly,  to  all  the  commercial  cities,  to  all  manufac- 
turers, colonies,  and  societies  and  friends  of  the  constitution. 
It  began  by  an  attack  on  a  lengthy  pamphlet  of  Moreau  de 
Saint-Mery's,  which  it  characterized  as  a  diatribe  of  the  worst 
order,  and  its  main  allegation,  that  the  Amis  des  Xoirs  were 
responsible  for  the  evils  in  the  colonies,  as  a  glaring  falsehood. 
This  pamphlet,  it  declared  further,  had  been  announced  as 
coming  from  the  national  printing  shop,  m  order  to  make  it 
appear  to  have  the  seal  of  the  approval  of  the  Assembly.  The 
address  then  attacked  the  demand  of  the  whites  to  be  assured 
of  the  control  of  affairs.  Such  a  demand  should  be  refused,  as 
it  was  not  fair  or  just  to  leave  the  fortunes  of  the  colony  to  one 
class,  whose  interests  were  opposed  to  the  interests  of  all  other 
classes.    Injustice  had  already  been  done  in  not  observing 
the  terms  of  the  decree  of  :March  28,  which  based  the  suffrage 
on  a  general  property  qualification  and  did  not  expressly  ex- 
clude the  mulattoes,  whereas  in  administering  the  decree  they 
had  been  excluded.  The  address  then  went  on  to  deny  that  the 
mulattoes  were  unfitted  to  rule,  or  that  to  give  them  the  suf- 
frage would  result  in  a  slave  insurrection  or  in  a  falling  off  m 
commerce;  and  closed  with  a  reiteration  of  the  general  princi- 
ples of  the  Amis  des  Noirs;  that  though  they  were  opposed  to 
slavery,  root  and  branch,  as  contrary  to  the  natural  rights  of 
man,  they  did  not  advocate  its  immediate  or  sudden  abolition; 
that' they  believed  that  the  constitution  ought  to  be  applied 
in  full  to  all  the  colonies  as  provinces  of  the  realm;  that 
the  slave  trade  should  be  abolished;  and  that  there  should 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  March  4,  15,  1791.    See  also  Le  Courrier  de  Provence, 
March  6,  8,  i791,  and  the  Moniteur,  March  7,  1791. 


206  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

be  the  greatest  possible  freedom  of  trade  allowed  to  the 
colonies.^ 

Meanwhile,  Brissot  continued  his  campaign  in  the  Patriote 
Frangais,  printed  an  address  of  the  Jacobin  Society  of  Angers 
to  all  the  patriotic  societies  of  the  realm,  in  favor  of  the  raulat- 
toes,2  also  a  petition  of  the  mulattoes  themselves  to  the  Assem- 
bly,' wrote  at  length  on  the  fearful  punishment  of  Og^,*  inter- 
ested his  friend,  Madame  Roland,  in  the  cause,^  and  took  steps 
to  consult  with  the  English  society  as  to  ways  and  means  of 
providing  funds  for  the  campaign. 

Notwithstanding  the  vigorous  fight  made  by  the  representa- 
tives of  the  colonial  interests,  the  Amis  des  Noirs  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  the  Assembly  to  modify  the  decree  of  Oc- 
tober 12,  and  on  May  14  and  15,  1791,  the  Assembly  voted 
that  it  would  never  take  action  regarding  the  state  of  mulat- 
toes who  were  born  of  free  fathers  and  mothers,  except  on 
demand  of  the  colonies  themselves;  that  the  existing  colonial 
assemblies  should  be  maintained;  but  that  in  the  future,  mulat- 
toes who  were  born  of  free  fathers  and  mothers  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  parochial  and  colonial  assemblies  if  they  had  the 
other  qualifications  necessary.^  Considering  the  large  majority 
with  which  the  decree  of  October  12  passed  and  the  strength 
and  influence  of  the  opponents  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  this  was 
a  considerable  victory,  though  it  was  not  by  am'^  means  what 
they  hoped.  They  still  feared,  and  with  some  reason,  that  it 
might  not  be  executed.^ 

But  this  decree,  which  was  so  great  a  source  of  satisfaction 
to  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  seemed  to  the  planters,  and  indeed  to 

^  A  second  edition  of  the  address  contains  also  a  justification  of  Oge,  and 
letters  of  different  socUtes  des  amis  de  la  constitution,  claiming  rights  for  the 
mulattoes. 

2  Patriote  Frangais,  March  25,  1791.  Lettres  des  diverses  societes  des  amis 
de  la  constitution  qui  reclament  les  droits  de  citoyen  actif  enfaveur  des  hommes  de 
couleur  des  colonies.  March  8,  April  17,  1791. 

'  Patriote  Frangais,  March  25,  1791.  *  Ibid.,  May  1,  1791. 

5  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  276. 

6  Moniteur,  May  16,  1791. 

'  Patriote  Frangais,  Jime  3,  1791. 


A  HOL\NITARIAN  207 

almost  every  one  who  had  a  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  colo- 
nies, the  height  of  folly,  and  they  went  to  work  most  energeti- 
cally to  bring  about  its  repeal.  At  the  same  time  the  friends  of 
the  mulatto  took  up  its  defense  and  protested  against  the  possi- 
bility of  evil  consequences  arising  from  it.  In  a  speech  at  the 
Jacobins  the  12th  of  September  Brissot  reiterated  his  former 
arguments  in  favor  of  the  civil  rights  of  the  mulatto,  and  in  the 
face  of  strong  indications  to  the  contrary,  denied  that  the  slaves 
had  revolted,  that  all  commercial  cities  were  against  the  decree 
of  May  15,  and  that  civil  war  had  broken  out.  Even  if  it  had, 
he  declared,  it  was  due,  not  to  the  decree  of  ^May  15,  but  to 
the  failure  to  execute  it.^  Rumors  from  the  colonies,  however, 
offset  these  protests,  and  on  September  24,  on  the  ver\'  eve  of 
the  dissolution  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  the  measure  of 
May  15  was  virtually  repealed  by  a  law  which  gave  to  each 
colony  the  right  to  regulate  its  ovnti  internal  affairs.  Brissot 
and  his  friends  were  naturally  greatly  depressed,  but  they  had 
no  intention  of  considering  this  decree  as  final,  and  on  the  open- 
ing of  the  Legislative  Assembly  they  took  up  the  struggle  with 
renewed  vehemence. 

Meanwhile,  the  election  of  Brissot  —  the  heart  and  soul  of 
the  Amis  des  Noirs  —  to  this  Assembly  gave  him  a  new  oppor- 
tunity and  shifted  the  center  of  the  combat  to  that  body.  His 
influence  on  colonial  questions  during  this  period  is  so  closely 
related  to  his  previous  work  on  the  same  subject  that  it  may 
best  be  considered  here  instead  of  in  connection  with  his  other 
work  as  a  legislator.  As  a  deputy  to  the  Assembly  he  now  had 
the  chance  of  exercising  directly  upon  legislation  that  influence 
which,  in  the  case  of  the  former  decrees,  he  had  exercised  only 
indirectly  through  the  Amis  des  Noirs  and  through  the  columns 
of  the  Patrioie  Frangais.  The  part  of  the  society  in  this  new 
phase  of  the  struggle  is  not  clear,  but  in  the  absence  of  records 
to  the  contrary,  it  must  be  assumed  that  they  left  the  struggle 
largely  to  Brissot.  And  into  the  combat  he  threw  himself  with 

1  DiscouTs  suT  la  necessiie  de  mainienir  le  decret  rendu  le  15  max,  1791.  en 
faveur  des  hommes  de  couleur  libres,  prononce  le  12  septembre,  1791. 


208  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

all  his  accustomed  ardor.  According  to  Paganel  ^  he  sought 
influence  in  the  Assembly,  solely  that  he  might  be  in  a  better 
position  to  defend  the  mulattoes,  and  for  this  reason  allied 
himself  with  the  party  of  Gensonn^  and  Guadet.^  Hardly 
had  the  new  assembly  assumed  power  before  alarming  reports 
began  to  come  in  of  a  slave  insurrection  in  Santo  Domingo. 
News  was  also  brought  that  the  mulattoes,  when  they  had 
learned  of  the  rights  given  them  by  the  decree  of  May  15,  had, 
on  September  20,  extorted  from  the  whites  a  formal  agree- 
ment by  which  the  whites  recognized  and  guaranteed  these 
rights.^  Whereupon,  the  colonial  committee  proposed,  in  case 
the  reports  of  the  insurrection  should  be  confirmed,  to  send  out 
an  armed  force.  At  this  point  Brissot  expressed  himself  vigor- 
ously upon  what  he  considered  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  though 
he  protested  that  the  extent  of  the  insurrection  had  been  much 
exaggerated.  The  cause  was  to  be  found,  he  asserted,  in  the 
law  of  September  24,  which  humiliated  and  debased  the  mulat- 
toes. This,  Tarbe  of  the  colonial  committee  replied,  could  not 
be  true,  because  the  insurrection  began  before  the  September 
law  was  passed.  The  real  cause,  in  his  opinion,  was  the  original 
decree  of  May  15,  1791.  While  accepting  Tarb6's  correction  as 
to  the  date  of  the  insurrection,  Brissot  denied  absolutely  that 
the  decree  of  INIay  15  was  responsible  for  it.  He  maintained, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  whole  trouble  was  stirred  up,  not  by 
the  decree  of  May  15,  but  by  its  non-enforcement,  and  further 
he  demanded  a  speedy  consideration  of  the  whole  question. 
The  colonial  committee  was  instructed  to  report,  but  the  tardi- 
ness with  which  news  arrived  delayed  its  action  for  some  weeks. 
Delay  was  intolerable  to  a  radical  like  Brissot,  who  undoubt- 

1  Pierre  Paganel  (born  1745,  died  1826)  was  a  French  politician,  a  deputy 
from  the  department  of  the  Lot  et  Garonne  to  the  Legislative  Assembly  and 
to  the  Convention,  a  deputy  on  mission  in  1793  and  afterward  general  secretary 
of  the  ministry  of  foreign  affairs. 

2  Essai  kistorique  et  critique  sur  la  Revolution  frangaise,  n,  228:  //  servait  le 
parti  des  Gensonne,  des  Giiadet,  etc.,  dans  I'espSrance  defoHifier  de  lew  credit  et  de 
leur  influence  la  cause  des  noirs. 

'  Garran  de  Coulon,  Troubles  de  Saint-Dominique,  ii,  28-1-85. 


A  HU:VIANITARIAN  209 

edly  suspected  the  good  faith  of  the  committee  and  attributed 
delay  rather  to  design  than  to  the  cause  alleged.  He  finally 
lost  all  patience,  and  on  November  20  declared  to  the  Assembly 
that  if  the  committee  did  not  make  a  report  on  the  colonies,  he 
would.  ^  Already  fuller  information  had  come  in.  It  was  now 
known  that  the  situation  was  desperate.  What  the  planters 
had  predicted  had  come  to  pass.  A  slave  insurrection  of  un- 
speakable horror  was  in  progress,  and  the  island  was  being 
devastated  with  fire  and  rapine. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Santo  Domingo  when,  on 
December  1,  Brissot  made  his  promised  speech,  one  of  his  long- 
est and  most  eloquent  efforts.  He  argued  that  the  real  cause 
of  the  trouble  was  the  machinations  of  the  disloyal  whites,  who 
had  refused  to  obey  the  decree  of  May  15,  and  had  actually 
disarmed  the  mulattoes.  The  accusation  that  the  Amis  des 
Noirs  had  in  any  w^ay  been  instrumental  in  causing  the  insur- 
rection he  hotly  denied.  "Produce  a  single  scrap  of  evidence 
of  correspondence  between  the  society  or  its  individual  mem- 
bers and  the  colonies,"  was  his  challenge;  "show  me  a  single 
emissary  to  the  colonies,  and  we  will  march  to  the  scaffold." 
As  for  the  remedy,  he  had  no  faith  in  the  formal  agreement  of 
September  20.  It  was  forced  from  the  whites  almost  at  the 
moment  when  the  National  Assembly  was  passing  the  law  of 
September  24  which  gave  to  the  whites  power  to  decide  on  the 
status  of  the  mulattoes.  If  the  whites  had  known  this  they 
would  never  have  consented  to  the  agreement,  and  now  that 
they  had  despotic  power  legally  in  their  hands,  they  would  use 
it  despotically  and  disavow  the  agreement.  The  one  reasonable 
thing  for  the  Assembly  to  do  was  to  repeal  the  law  of  Septem- 
ber 24  and  by  its  own  action  assure  to  the  mulattoes  their 
rights.  To  this  end  he  proposed  a  series  of  radical  measures. 
The  most  important  were  the  arrest  and  trial  before  the  high 
national  court  of  the  members  of  the  general  assembly  of  Santo 
Domingo,  and  of  the  governor,  M.  Blanchelande;  the  calling  of 
a  new  colonial  assembly  without  distinction  of  color  and  the 
*  MoniteuT,  November  21,  1791. 


210  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

sending  to  the  islands  of  civil  commissioners  and  troops.^  The 
Assembly  evidently  was  not  ready  for  such  measures,  but  one 
thing  was  clear  even  to  Brissot's  opponents :  troops  were  imper- 
atively needed  in  the  island  and  at  once.  The  task  of  Brissot 
and  his  friends  was  now  to  win  the  passage  of  a  decree  which 
would  insure  that  the  troops  should  not  be  used  against  the 
mulattoes.  To  this  the  colonists  vehemently  objected  and  the 
debates  became  tempestuous.  In  the  struggle  Brissot  had 
the  support  of  his  Girondin  friends  in  his  main  purpose,  though 
they  differed  as  to  the  means  by  which  it  was  to  be  attained. 
Guadet  and  Vergniaud  each  had  a  different  wording  for  the 
definitive  clause  of  the  decree;  Vergniaud's,  providing  that  the 
troops  could  be  used  only  on  the  requisition  of  the  civil  com- 
missioners, was  the  more  conciliatory;  while  Guadet's  stated 
that  the  king  should  use  the  troops  for  the  provisional  main- 
tenance of  the  agreement  made  by  the  whites.  This  latter 
proposition  aroused  fierce  debate;  since,  by  dictating  the  action 
of  the  colonial  assemblies  it  took  away  the  freedom  granted 
by  the  September  law.  The  fundamental  question  of  the  status 
of  the  law  was  thus  raised.  It  had  been  passed  as  an  acte  con- 
stitutionnel  sur  les  colonies  and  the  question  was:  Did  it  fall 
under  that  provision  of  the  constitution  which  declared  that 
the  next  two  legislatures  could  not  propose  the  change  of  any 
constitutional  article?  As  a  constitutional  article  had  unfortu- 
nately not  been  defined,  there  was  room  for  endless  argument. 
The  colonial  committee  declared  that  the  law  under  discussion 
was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  part  of  the  constitution  and 
so  could  not  be  changed,  while  Brissot  stoutly  maintained  that 
it  was  not  a  part  of  the  constitution  and  therefore  could  be 
changed.^  In  spite  of  intense  opposition,  Brissot  won  a  victory 
on  the  immediate  question  of  the  use  of  the  troops  which  were 
to  be  sent  to  Santo  Domingo,  it  being  provided  that  they  could 
be  used  only  to  put  down  the  revolt  of  the  negroes  and  not  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  rights  of  the  mulattoes,  as  established  by 
the  agreement  entered  into  by  the  whites. 

^  Moniteur,  December  2  and  4,  1791.       ^  /j^^,^  December  8  and  9,  1791. 


A  HU^L\NITARL\N  211 

But  the  definite  settlement  of  the  fundamental  question  of 
the  status  of  the  mulattoes,  and  the  relation  of  the  colonial 
assembly  to  it,  was  put  off  for  some  time.  Finally,  on  March  21, 
Brissot  demanded  that  the  discussion  of  the  subject  be  begun 
at  once  and  be  continued  without  interruption  until  it  should 
be  settled.  He  then  made  a  lengthy  speech,  in  which  he  reiter- 
ated his  former  assertion  that  the  difficulty  was  due  not  to  the 
decree  of  May  15,  but  to  its  non-enforcement;  pictured  in  glow- 
ing colors  the  moderation  and  the  patriotism  of  the  mulattoes 
in  the  face  of  wrong  and  oppression;  accused  the  colonial 
assembly  of  plotting  for  the  independence  of  the  colonies;  and 
declared  that  the  only  just  and  adequate  solution  of  the  prob- 
lem was  the  revocation  of  the  decree  of  September  24.^  These 
arguments  were  answered  by  Tarb^,  of  the  colonial  committee, 
who  declared  that  the  evidence  on  which  Brissot  based  his 
charges  against  the  colonial  committee  was  ill  founded,  drew 
a  lurid  picture  of  the  cruelty  of  the  mulattoes,  —  a  ghastly 
contrast  to  Brissot's  presentation,  —  and  vehemently  opposed 
the  revocation  of  the  September  decree. 

The  question  of  the  constitutional  character  of  this  decree 
was  taken  up  by  Gensonn^  and  Guadet,  both  of  whom  argued 
against  its  constitutionality  on  the  ground  that  by  giving  so 
much  authority  to  the  colonial  assemblies  it  violated  the  indi- 
visible sovereignty  of  the  people.-  The  further  argument  was 
adduced  by  Gensomie  that  it  could  not  be  considered  constitu- 
tional, because  it  was  passed  after  the  constitution  had  been 
declared  finished.  After  a  stormy  debate  Girondin  influence 
finally  prevailed,  and  on  March  24  Brissot  and  his  friends  won 
a  decisive  victory  in  the  passage  of  a  law  which  practically  re- 
enacted  that  of  May  15,  by  giving  civil  rights  to  the  mulattoes. 

Brissot  was  fairly  carried  off  his  feet  with  delight  at  the  suc- 
cess of  this  measure,  and,  in  an  editorial  in  the  Patriote  FrangaiSf 

1  Moniteur,  March  22,  1792. 

2  Ibid.,  March  23  and  24.  The  Patriote  Fran^ais  of  March  23  said  of 
Guadet's  speech:  " Sensibilite,  Anergic,  logique,  et  plaisanterie,  il  a  su  fondre 
toutes  les  couleurs  avec  I'art  le  plus  dMicat." 


212  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

gave  vent  to  a  perfect  paean  of  joy  —  an  editorial  which  showed 
his  absolute  inability  to  understand  that  there  were  two  sides 
to  the  question  or  to  credit  his  adversaries  with  honest  convic- 
tion and  sincerity  of  motive.  There  was  nothing  left  for  them, 
he  declared,  but  opprobrium,  ineffaceable  opprobrium.  Their 
souls  were  hardened,  ossified;  they  were  dead  to  liberty  and 
humanity. 

This  decree  which  so  moved  Brissot  was  the  last  colonial 
legislation  of  importance  during  his  career,  but  the  spirit  of  his 
measures  was  followed  out,  two  years  later,  by  a  decree  abolish- 
ing slavery.  The  insurrection,  meanwhile,  was  not  permanently 
quelled,  and  under  Toussaint  I'Ouverture  Santo  Domingo  prac- 
tically secured  her  independence.  That  the  Amis  des  Noirs 
had  any  part  in  this  subsequent  legislation  is  not  proved  by 
any  records  known  to  the  writer.  The  r6sum6  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  society,  found  at  the  Institute  among  the  papers  of 
Condorcet,  stops  with  the  meeting  of  June  8,  1790,  but  the 
existence  of  the  society  as  late  as  July,  1792,  is  attested  by  the 
records  of  the  English  society.  It  is  not  unlikely  that,  after  the 
victory  of  March,  1792,  when  other  interests  absorbed  the  time 
and  attention  of  its  leader,  it  abandoned  further  immediate 
efforts  and  became  less  and  less  active. 

The  responsibility  for  the  initiative  of  this  colonial  policy 
was  universally  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  and  from 
the  time  when  they  opposed  the  admission  to  the  Assembly  of 
the  deputies  from  Santo  Domingo  to  the  passing  of  the  decree 
of  March  24,  1792,  accusations  were  heaped  up  against  them. 
These  accusations  came  from  at  least  three  sources:  the  com- 
mercial class,  both  in  the  colonies  and  in  France,  who  declared 
that  they  would  be  ruined  if  the  slave  trade  were  destroyed; 
the  planters,  who,  in  addition  to  commercial  ruin,  feared  the 
horrors  of  a  negro  insurrection;  and  the  more  conservative  ele- 
ment in  the  Assembly,  who,  while  they  were  not  personally 
involved,  foresaw  the  dangers  which  might  result  from  too 
radical  action.^ 

^  See,  for  example,  a  cut  which  appeared  in  the  Ades  des  Apotres,  vol.  xi,  no. 


A  HLT^IANITARIAN  213 

The  charges  brought  against  the  Amis  des  Noirs  by  these 
various  enemies  went  all  the  way  from  a  simple  allegation  that 
they  had  been  guilty  of  bad  judgment  in  trying  to  bring  about 
the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  and  of  slavery  to  the  accusation 
that  they  had  deliberately  stirred  up  revolt  for  treasonable 
purposes.  One  of  the  most  violent  denounced  the  society  as  a 
sect  which  carried  with  it  the  destruction  of  all  religions,  of  all 
forms  of  government.  The  majority  of  these  attacks  accused 
the  society,  at  most,  of  bad  judgment,  and  were  based  on  the 
general  argument  that  the  colonies  could  not  exist  without  the 
slave  trade  and  that  the  result  of  its  suppression  would  be 
weakness  and  poverty.^  "Such  is  the  natural  result,"  wrote 
Saint-Cyran,  "  of  the  ideas  with  which  a  multitude  of  lazy  peo- 
ple, who  know  very  little  about  our  colonies  and  our  commerce, 
are  trying  to  buy  celebrity  at  any  price.  \\e  ought,  no  doubt, 
to  consider  these  humanitarians  as  fanatics  who  are  acting  in 
good  faith,  although  appearances  are  to  the  contrary."  ^ 

As  might  be  expected,  many  of  the  attacks  were  directed 
especially  against  Brissot.  He  had  at  least  twice  held  the  office 
of  president  of  the  society  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  —  in  Febru- 
ary, 1789,  and  again  in  January,  1790;  during  a  large  part  of 
1790  and  in  1791  he  filled  the  more  important  post  of  secretary 
and  was  known  as  the  founder  and  most  active  member.^  He 
was  accused  of  being  from  first  to  last  the  author  of  the  trouble 
in  the  colonies  and  of  having  acted  as  the  agent  of  the  English 
government  with  the  deliberate  purpose  of  bringing  about  their 
ruin.  Such  charges,  in  various  forms  and  in  various  degrees  of 

306,  about  January,  1792,  representing  in  the  background  the  city  of  Bordeaux 
and  in  the  foreground  Vulcan  chained,  a  broken  anchor,  and  a  wrecked  ship 
with  this  inscription:  "  Activite  constihitionnelle  dii  commerce  de  Bordeaux,  cetie 
estampe  est  dediee  d,  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs  et  recommandee  particuliere- 
ment  a  Mm.  [sic]  Condor cet  et  Brissot." 

^  De  Pons,  wTiting  to  Bamave,  Observations  sur  la  situation  'politique  de  Saint- 
Domingiie,  November  27,  1790. 

^  Refutation  du  projct  des  Amis  des  Noirs  sur  la  suppression  de  la  traite  des 
negres  et  sur  Vabolition  de  Vesclavage  dans  nos  colonies,  par  M.  de  Saint-Cyran, 
1790. 

'  See  the  signatures  of  the  oflBcers  attached  to  various  addresses  of  the 
society. 


214  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

intensity,  were  repeated  again  and  again  during  the  period 
when  colonial  affairs  were  under  discussion  and  were  brought 
up  once  more  during  the  trial  of  the  Girondins,  both  openly 
and  anonymously.^  One  anonymous  writer,  for  example,  de- 
nounced Brissot  to  this  effect:  He  fled  from  home  some  years 
before  and  came  to  Paris,  where  he  was  shut  up  in  a  house  of 
correction  on  account  of  many  scandalous  libels,  of  which  he 
was  recognized  as  the  author.  Forced  to  leave  the  kingdom,  he 
embarked  for  New  England  as  a  cabin  boy.  By  means  of  a 
certain  amount  of  talent,  especially  a  talent  for  intrigue,  and 
his  pleasing  appearance  and  manners,  he  succeeded  in  making 
the  acquaintance  of  some  Frenchmen  in  New  York  who  pro- 
vided for  his  support.  They  were  all  deceived.  A  blunderer 
by  nature  and  vicious  besides,  he  stirred  up  trouble,  in  which 
he  compromised  his  friends.  They  made  haste  to  get  rid  of 
him.  No  one  would  have  anything  to  do  with  him,  and  he  was 
forced  to  embark  for  England.  In  this  wretched  condition,  to 
which  he  was  reduced  by  his  wickedness,  without  refuge,  with- 
out support,  he  applied  to  the  Revolutionary  Club  at  London. 
They  took  him  into  their  service  in  their  plan  of  vengeance 
against  France.^ 

These  charges  are  manifestly  so  absurd  as  to  need  no  refuta- 
tion. As  for  the  charges  against  the  society,  it  is  to  be  remem- 
bered that  in  many  cases  they  were  made  by  persons  interested; 
at  the  same  time  it  is  to  be  observed  that  in  several  instances, 
at  least,  they  were  made  by  men  who  had  been  in  the  colonies 
and  knew  whereof  they  spoke  —  as  the  Amis  des  Noirs  did  not. 
The  accusation  that  they  stirred  up  rebellion  for  treasonable 
purposes  is  certainly  without  real  foundation,  although  in  one 
case  circumstances  seemed  to  connect  them  directly  with  dis- 
order in  the  colonies.    Og6  was  affiliated  with  the  society. 

»  See  a  paper  found  among  the  papers  of  the  colonial  committee  [A.  N.  A.  A. 
54,  1509],  unsigned  and  undated.  It  consists  of  a  long  list  of  accusations  — 
thirty-two  counts  in  all  —  supported  in  almost  every  case  by  a  citation  from 
the  Pafriote  Franqais.  See  Appendix  C. 

2  Decouverte  d'une  conspiration  contre  les  interets  de  France,  u-ithout  date  or 
signature.  Printed  in  Supplement  aux  proces-verbal  de  I'Assemblee  nationale, 
colonies,  i,  traiie  des  negres,  part  ii. 


A  HUMANITARIAN  215 

After  his  stay  in  Paris  he  went  directly  back  to  Santo  Domingo 
and  raised  an  insurrection.  But  even  in  this  instance  it  can 
hardly  be  asserted  that  the  society  deliberately  instigated  rebel- 
lion, although  they  certainly  sympathized  with  its  ends.  They 
also  sympathized  with  all  efforts  for  the  ultimate  abolition  of 
slavery;  but  the  charge  that  they  were  trying  to  bring  it  about 
immediately  is  without  proof. 

At  all  events,  their  efforts  to  extend  the  principles  of  liberty 
and  equality  to  the  colonies  were  attended  with  disastrous 
results.  The  Amis  des  Noirs  may  not  have  been  responsible  for 
the  consequences,  but  their  principles  were  embodied  in  the 
decrees  which  had  these  deplorable  results.  The  members  of 
the  society,  and  Brissot  in  particular,  thought  that  they  under- 
stood the  subject,  but  they  had  not  lived  in  the  colonies  and 
were  really  meddling  in  a  matter  that  they  knew  nothing  about. 
Robert-Dubayet  put  the  matter  very  well  when  he  declared 
that  "  the  experiences  of  all  time  teach  us  that  there  are  mo- 
ments when  it  is  not  desirable  to  publish,  much  less  to  put  into 
practice,  political  maxims  of  eternal  truth,  especially  when  the 
premature  application  of  a  principle  means  the  ruin  of  many 
thousands  of  individuals."  ^  This  is  practically  what  the  Amis 
des  Noirs  had  done  under  the  leadership  of  Brissot.  As  a 
French  politician  of  the  time  declared:  "Our  colonies  became 
the  prey  of  their  humanity."  ^ 

*  Moniteur,  March  24,  1792. 

*  Paganel,  Essai  historique,  ii,  229.  Paganel  says:  "Brissot  se  proposait  de 
venger  la  nature  et  de  retaUir  dans  ses  droits  la  moitie  de  I'espece  humaine.  Que 
fit-il,  en  effet  ?  II  assimila  dans  Vordre  politique  et  civil  a  tons  les  Franqais  des 
hommes  qui  leur  Stoient  ahsolument  dissemblables  par  les  habitudes,  leurs  maurs, 
et  la  privation  de  tmite  lumiere ;  il  deversa  toui-a-coup  dans  Vharmonie  sociale 
I'independance  sans  regulateur  et  les  passions  sans  f rein.  .  .  . 

"La  philosophie  eut  dans  les  premieres  legislatures  ses  devots,  et  la  libertS  ses 
fanatiques.  II  n'est  pas  plus  permis,  disait  Brissot,  de  composer  avec  les  principes 
qu'avec  /ea  devoirs.  Jjiges  et  parties,  les  hlancs  ne  sauroient,  sans  crime  et  sans 
konte,  proroger  la  servitude  des  noirs. 

"  Ainsi  Brissot  et  son  parti  opposoient  la  nature  a  Vinteret  particulier,  la  raison 
a  la  violence,  le  droit  au  privilege,  le  perfectionnement  de  Vespece  humaine  a 
Vorgueil  de  la  couleur,  enfin  au  systeme  colonial,  le  systeme  eternel  d'ordre  et  de 
justice  Jonde  par  le  pere  commun  des  hommes.  ..." 


CHAPTER  IX 

BRISSOT  AS  A   MEMBER   OF  THE   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY 

Part  I 

His  Election  and  his  Relation  to  the  War  Question  ' 

A  FEW  days  before  it  dissolved,  the  first  National  Assembly 
had  declared  that  the  one  object  of  the  Revolution  was  to  give 
the  French  people  a  constitution,  and  that  as  the  constitution 
was  completed,  the  Revolution  was  ended.  To  those  who  be- 
lieved this  declaration,  the  period  of  the  Legislative  Assembly 
furnished  a  complete  disillusion.  At  its  beginning  France  was  a 
bourgeois  monarchy  at  peace  with  all  its  neighbors;  before  its 
close  she  had  entered  upon  a  war  which  was  to  end  only  with  the 
fall  of  Napoleon;  and  she  had  become  in  all  but  name  a  demo- 
cratic republic.  In  both  these  changes  Brissot  took  an  active 
part.  He  was  influential  in  bringing  about  the  overthrow  of  the 
monarchy,  and  for  the  war  he,  more  than  any  other  one  man, 
was  responsible.  The  period  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  was 
indeed  the  most  important  epoch  of  his  life  and  the  time  of  his 
greatest  influence. 

In  spite  of  his  avowed  republicanism,  he  had  no  hesitation 
about  accepting  the  position  of  deputy  under  the  constitutional 
monarchy.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  eager  for  the  opportunity 
to  sit  in  the  Legislative  Assembly,  and  it  would  have  been  a 
keen  disappointment  to  him  if  he  had  failed  of  election,  as  he 
had  two  years  before  to  the  States-General.  Quite  aside  from 
his  own  personal  interest,  the  approaching  elections  were  to 
him  a  matter  of  the  deepest  concern.  It  was  of  vital  impor- 
tance, he  felt,  that  the  right  sort  of  men  should  be  chosen,  and 
in  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  June  14  and  15  he  gave  his  advice 
at  length  on  the  subject.  Exclude  former  princes  and  members 
of  the  high  nobility  and  the  high  clergy,  he  urged.    Mistrust 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISK\TIVE  ASSEMBLY    217 

those  men  who  have  been  connected  with  great  houses,  exclude 
not  only  those  who  have  had  pensions  from  the  government, 
but  also  those  who  are  holding  public  and  lucrative  places,  of 
whatever  nature,  for  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  sacred  maxim  that 
no  one  can  fill  two  offices  at  a  time.  Mistrust  bankers;  men  who 
have  belonged  to  the  old  parliamentary  magistracy;  men  of 
letters,  who  have  been  the  champions  of  the  ministry;  almost 
all  academicians,  men  who  have  passed  their  lives  in  the  midst 
of  the  great;  and  finally,  both  the  men  who  are  always  preach- 
ing moderation  and  those  who  defend  the  cause  of  the  people 
with  frenzy.  Barring  out  such  men,  the  safest  classes  from  which 
to  choose  are  first  of  all  political  writers,  and  then  in  order 
doctors,  lawyers,  and  business  men.  In  making  these  recom- 
mendations, Brissot,  while  obviously  sincere,  was  perhaps  not 
altogether  disinterested. 

His  own  chances  were  certainly  better  now  than  they  had 
been  at  the  opening  of  the  States-General,  partly  because  the 
self-denying  ordinance,  by  making  ineligible  to  the  Legislative 
Assembly  all  members  of  the  first  Assembly,  had  removed  from 
the  field  of  competition  many  prominent  men,  who  might 
otherwise  have  been  his  rivals;  but  chiefly  because  he  had  won 
for  himself  a  considerable  reputation  as  a  municipal  politician, 
leader  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs,  and  most  of  all  as  editor  of  the 
Patriote  Frangais.  On  the  other  hand,  these  very  activities 
which  had  proclaimed  him  a  partisan  of  an  equality  which 
extended  even  to  the  negro,  and  of  a  sovereignty  of  the  people 
which  would  overthrow  the  king,  had  made  him  many  enemies 
among  the  colonists,  the  aristocrats,  and  the  royalists.  It  was 
not  a  question  of  "accepting"  the  position  of  deputy,  but  of 
fighting  a  long  and  arduous  battle  to  gain  it. 

The  attack  against  him  was  led  by  royalist  journals,  such  as 
the  Ades  des  Apotres,  the  Journal  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville,  the 
Ami  du  Roi,  the  Argus  Patriote,  the  Babillard,  and  the  Chant  du 
Coq.^  WTiile  these  papers  could  not  be  compared  to  the  revo- 

1  "  Le  Chant  du  Coq  semhlait  n'avoir  M  cret  que  pour  mener  une  campagne 
acharnie  contre  Brissot."    Charavay,  L'Assemblee  ilectorale  de  Paris,  1791-92, 


218  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

lutionary  journals  for  the  weight  and  force  of  their  arguments, 
in  wit  and  abihty  to  make  their  antagonist  ridiculous  they  were 
disconcertingly  successful.  Brissot's  candidacy  was  no  sooner 
announced  than  they  began  their  fusillades.  Among  these 
attacks  the  most  noted  and  the  most  efiFective  was  that  of  the 
Journal  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville.  In  the  midst  of  the  election  it 
came  out  with  this  epigram :  — 

Mons  Bris  .  .  .  resaemble  au  fripon 
Qui,  dans  la  crainte  de  la  gcole, 
Va  partout  criani :  Au  larron  t 
Et  pendant  ce  temps-la  vous  vole.^ 

The  accusation  of  theft  hinted  at  in  these  lines  is  said  to  have 
first  been  made  by  Theveneau  de  Morande,  the  editor  of  the 
Argus  Patriote,  who  is  held  responsible  for  coining  the  word 
brissoter  as  an  equivalent  for  steal.^  It  was  immediately  seized 
upon  by  the  royalist  journals,  who  lost  no  time  in  putting  it 
into  circulation,  as  an  equivalent  for  escroquer,  to  steal,  nor  did 
its  use  cease  with  Brissot's  election.  For  example,  the  Journal 
de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville  of  September  25  made  this  edifying  state- 
ment: "When  Mr.  Burke  learned  that  it  was  sufficient  to  know 
how  to  brissoter  neatly  in  order  to  be  chosen  as  deputy  to  the 
new  legislature,  he  said:  'I  hope  that  INIr.  Pitt  will  not  continue 
to  send  the  brissoteurs  of  London  to  Botany-Bay,  since  he  can 
now  settle  them  so  well  with  our  neighbors ;  those  clever  pick- 
pockets will  find  themselves  at  home  there.' "  Again  a  few  days 
later  the  same  journal,  apropos  of  a  theft,  alluded  to  a  brissote- 
ment  that  had  been  perpetrated  upon  an  Englishman  in  one  of 

Introduction,  xxii.  The  editors  of  the  Babillard  were  cited  by  Brissot  before 
the  courts.  Their  defense  was  that  they  had  merely  borrowed  from  Theveneau 
de  Morande.  At  all  events,  the  suit  came  to  nothing.  Bouchez  et  Roux,  xii, 
15-17. 

1  Charavay,  UAssemblee  ilectorale  de  Paris,  Introduction,  xxii-xxv. 

2  No.  2,  of  September  17-18,  p.  52.  Claretie  in  his  biography  of  Desmoulins 
(p.  180)  credits  him  with  coining  the  word  in  his  Jean  Pierre  Brissot  demasquS. 
But  this  pamphlet  did  not  appear  till  February,  1792,  and  the  word  brissoter 
was  used  in  the  Journal  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville  of  September  10,  1791  (Charavay, 
U Assemblee  Hedorale  de  Paris,  1791-92,  Introduction,  xx\-ii,  note).  Accord- 
ins  to  BeauHeu,  Essais  historiques,  47,  it  was  Theveneau  de  Morande  in  the 
Argus  who  was  responsible. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATH^  ASSE^IBLY    219 

the  chief  gambhng-halls  of  the  Palais  Roj-al.^  According  to 
Beaulieu,  the  use  of  the  word  became  so  common  that  even  the 
children  in  the  streets  took  it  up.  Instead  of  saying,  ''  You  have 
stolen  my  ball  or  my  top,"  they  would  say,  "You  have  hrissote 
my  ball  or  my  top."  -  The  stigma  involved  clung  to  Brissot 
to  the  end  of  his  days. 

Th^veneau  de  Morande,  mentioned  above  as  the  originator 
of  this  libel,  was  Brissot's  most  bitter  and  persistent  enemy. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  they  had  come  to  serious  disagree- 
ment during  Brissot's  residence  in  London  in  1783,  when  they 
both  worked  on  the  Courrier  for  Swinton,'  and  that  Morande 
had  subsequently  accused  him  of  swindling  Desforges,  Brissot's 
partner,  in  the  Lycee,  in  consequence  of  which  Brissot  had 
brought  a  suit  against  him  which  was  still  pending.^  Morande 
had  now  renewed  his  attacks.  According  to  Madame  Roland,  he 
was  one  of  three  or  four  scribblers  paid  by  jNIontmorin  to  run 
down  Brissot,  and  had  been  called  from  London  expressly  for 
this  piu'pose.  At  all  events,  whether  on  his  own  account  or  in 
the  pay  of  others,  he  denounced  Brissot  unsparingly.  Not  con- 
tent with  heaping  up  accusations  in  his  journal,  he  now  pub- 
lished them  enlarged  and  embellished  in  pamphlet  form,  with 
the  object  of  reaching  a  larger  audience,  and  thus  inflicting  all 
possible  damage.  To  these  attacks  Brissot  replied  by  similar 
pamphlets  and  through  the  columns  of  the  Patriate  Franqais. 
Though  waged  for  political  reasons,  the  combat  was  not  on 
questions  of  political  policy  but  of  personal  conduct.  Neither 
party  scrupled  to  drag  in  the  details  of  the  private  life  of  the 
other,  and  their  mutual  recriminations  were  far  from  edifying.^ 

^  Journal  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville,  October  12,  179] .  The  same  paper  made  a 
wretched  pun  declaring  that  the  name  was  really  Tressot.  It  also  declared  that 
Brissot's  schoolmates  had  sought  the  origin  of  his  name  in  Greek  roots  and 
found  it  to  be  the  future  of  the  verb  britho,  that  is  to  say,  "  Je  suis  sur  le  voie 
d'etre  pendu."   December  21,  1791. 

2  "Cetle  mechancete  fit  fortune.  Les  enfants,  dans  levrs  jeux,  ne  disaient  plus: 
*  Tu  m'a  pris  ou  vole  ma  boule  ou  ma  toupie,'  mais  '  Tu  m'a  hrissoU  ma  toupie, 
tu  m'as  hrissote  ma  boule.'  "  Beaulieu,  ii,  47. 

»  See  p.  24.  <  See  p.  28. 

5  (a)  Replique  de  Charles  ThSveneau  Morande  a  Jacques  Pierre  Brissot  sur 


220  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

Morande's  accusations  were  not  so  well  founded  as  Brissot's, 
but  he  was  extremely  skillful  in  making  the  worse  appear  the 
better  reason,  and  pertinacious  in  supporting  his  accusations 
by  plausible  arguments  and  by  suppositions  which  seemed  to 
the  uninitiated  additional  proof.  He  raked  up  every  unfortu- 
nate accident  or  unhappy  circumstance  of  Brissot's  past  life 
and  adroitly  interpreted  them  to  Brissot's  disadvantage,  pre- 
senting even  the  most  innocent  facts  in  such  dark  and  damning 
colors  that  Brissot  himself  might  well  have  doubted  his  own 
integrity.^  He  dwelt  at  length  on  the  fact  that  Brissot  was  of 
insignificant  birth,  the  son  of  an  eating-house  keeper,  and  when 
Brissot  retorted  that  Demosthenes  was  the  son  of  a  blacksmith, 
Massillon  of  a  shoemaker,  and  Diderot  of  a  cutler,  ^  Morande 
declared  that  he  had  almost  died  of  laughter  at  the  audacity 
or  rather  the  simplicity  of  the  comparison.  The  addition  of 
de  Warville,  which  Brissot  had  made  to  his  name  before  leaving 
Chartres,  Morande  alleged  as  evidence  of  aristocratic  tenden- 
cies,^ and  Brissot's  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  negro  as  evidence 
that  he  was  in  secret  and  treasonable  collusion  with  England 
for  the  purpose  of  ruining  French  commerce  and  destroying  the 
French  colonies.^  Morande  declared  further  that  Brissot  had 
"forgotten"  for  six  months  to  restore  to  the  treasury  of  the 

les  erreurs,  les  oublis,  les  infidelitSs  et  les  calomnies  de  sa  reponse.  August  26, 
1791.  The  title  evidently  makes  allusion  to  the  earlier  phase  of  the  contest 
which  had  been  carried  on  in  the  respective  newspapers  of  Morande  and 
Brissot. 

(b)  Lettre  aux  electeurs  du  department  de  Paris  sur  Jacques  Pierre  Brissot, 
par  Charles  Theveneau  Morande.   September  3,  1791. 

(c)  Supplement  au  No.  25  de  V Argus  Patriate.   Expanse  au  dernier  mot  de 
J.  P.  Brissot  et  a  tons  les  petits  mots  de  ses  camarades.  September  6,  1791. 

^  (a)  Reponse  de  Jacques  Pierre  Brissot  a  Urns  les  libellistes,  qui  ont  attaquS  et 
attaquent  sa  lie  passee.  August  10,  1791. 

(6)  Aux  electeurs  du  departement  de  Paris.  August  26,  1791. 
(c)  Replique  de  J.  P.  Brissot  a  Charles  TMveneau  Morande,    August  30, 
1791. 

2  Reponse  de  Jacques  Pierre  Brissot,  3.  A  keener  sense  of  humor  would  have 
prevented  Brissot  from  making  such  a  comparison.  It  was  very  characteristic 
that  he  did  not  realize  how  this  would  sound. 

'  Replique  de  Charles  Theveneau  Morande,  47-48. 
'    *  Lettre  aux  Electeurs,  19-20. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    221 

district  of  the  Filles-Saint-Thomas  five  hundred  and  eighty 
livTes  with  which  he  had  been  entrusted  as  president  of  the 
district,^  and  finally,  returning  to  his  earlier  charges,  he  dwelt 
at  length  on  the  accusation  that  Brissot  had  had  part  in  the 
distribution  of  the  Diable  dans  un  benitier,-  and  that  he  had 
swindled  his  partner  Desforges  out  of  fifteen  thousand  livres.' 
These  charges  were  supported  by  insufficient  evidence.  It 
is  true  that  he  habitually  signed  himself  Brissot  de  Warville,  and 
even  became  known  as  Monsieur  de  IVarville,*  but  that  this 
was  an  evidence  of  aristocratic  tendencies  Brissot  emphatically 
denied.  He  added  the  de  Warville,  he  declared,  in  early  life, 
simply  in  order  to  distinguish  himself  from  his  brothers,  and 
then  having  published  works  under  that  name,  it  seemed  better 
to  keep  it.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  moreover,  that  Brissot  was 
not  the  only  revolutionist  who  bore  a  title  without  being  of  the 
nobility  or  having  the  least  desire  to  be.^  But  although  it 
showed  a  little  human  weakness,  and  certainly  gave  a  handle  to 
unfriendly  criticism,  it  was  really  no  proof  of  opposition  to  the 
democratic  principles  of  the  Revolution.^  As  for  the  charge 
that  he  was  sold  to  England,  an  accusation  of  like  venality  was 
made,  at  one  time  or  another,  against  almost  every  public  man 
in  France.  The  cry  was  raised  that  ^lirabeau  was  sold  to  the 
court,  Condorcet  to  the  king,  Danton  to  the  foreigner,  but, 
lacking  unquestionable  proof,  such  charges  may  be  dismissed 
as  unworthy  of  consideration.  The  accusation  that  Brissot 
kept  back  money  belonging  to  his  district  falls  to  the  ground, 
since  he  was  able  to  produce  a  receipt  for  the  money.'  On  the 
last  two  charges,  that  of  complicity  in  the  authorship  of  the 
Diable  dans  un  benitier  and  of  having  swindled  Desforges,  Bris- 
sot, as  has  already  been  seen,  was  not  able  to  clear  himself  so 

*  See  Brissot,  Eeplique,  26.  *  See  p.  30.  '  See  p.  28. 

*  He  was  known  as  De  Warville  in  .\merica.  See  letters  addressed  to  him  by 
Americans,  in  Craigie  Papers,  American  Antiquarian  Society,  and  Scioto 
Papers,  in  New  York  Historical  Society. 

'  Brissot,  Reponse  a  tovs  les  libellistes,  5. 

^  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Vatel;  Charlotte  Corday  et  les  Girondins,  n,  244. 

'  Replique  de  Brissot,  26. 


mt  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

completely;  ^  but  at  least  if  evidence  of  his  perfect  innocence  is 
lacking,  so  is  evidence  of  his  guilt.  It  is  a  case  of  "  not  proved." 

But  if  Morande's  facts  were  doubtful,  his  skill  in  presenting 
them  was  great.  With  a  deft  touch  and  a  clever  turn  he  had 
brought  out  the  weak  points  in  Brissot's  career.  He  showed 
that  Brissot,  if  not  himself  a  writer  of  libels,  had  been  closely- 
connected  with  people  who  did  write  them,  pointed  out  Bris- 
sot's  failures  as  a  man  of  letters,  and  held  up  to  ridicule  his 
impracticable  schemes.^  The  very  bitterness  of  the  attack  was, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  tribute  to  Brissot's  position,  for  had  he 
not  been  a  man  of  prominence  he  would  not  have  been  so  vigor- 
ously opposed. 

Brissot's  cause  was  meanwhile  supported  by  his  friends,  his 
section,  and  his  native  city.  In  answer  to  the  allegations  of  the 
Babillard,  borrowed  from  Morande,  that  he  had  not  accounted 
for  money  belonging  to  his  district,  certain  important  members 
of  the  section  of  the  Bibliotheque  posted  two  certificates  which 
showed  that  the  money  had  been  duly  paid,^  and  the  citizens 
of  Chartres,  Brissot's  native  place,  sent  to  the  electors  of  Paris 
an  address  in  which  they  asserted  their  belief  in  his  innocence 
and  denounced  the  accusations  made  against  him  as  atrocious 
calumnies.^  The  district  of  Lyons  also  sent  an  ardent  address 
in  his  behalf.^  Brissot  himself,  in  addition  to  his  defense 
against  specific  charges,  wrote  an  exhortation  to  the  electors 
which,  w^hile  general  in  its  terms,  was  really  an  appeal  for  per- 
sonal support.  The  fate  of  the  constitution,  he  reminded  them, 
depended  in  large  part  on  the  future  legislature.  Its  members 
should,  therefore,  be  chosen  with  the  utmost  care.  Calumnies 
against  the  candidates  mstead  of  being  lightly  accepted  should 

»  See  pp.  28,  30.  ^  R^plique  de  Brissot,  39,  51. 

'  Bouchez  et  Roux,  xii,  15-17.  Whereupon  the  Babillard,  in  another  issue, 
questioned  the  worth  of  these  certificates  and  added  that  Brissot  had  taken  the 
sum  twice,  but  this  seems  hardly  probable. 

*  Charavay,  LAssemhlee  eledorale  de  Paris,  1791-92,  pp.  202-03.  The  insti- 
gators of  this  letter  were  the  members  of  the  local  Jacobin  Club.  Their  support 
of  Brissot  may,  therefore,  have  been  due  more  to  his  popularity  with  the 
Jacobin  Club  at  Paris  than  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  native  of  Chartres. 

^  Archives  Nationales,  B^  11. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    223 

be  carefully  sifted.  Proved  patriotism,  courage,  good  judgment, 
and  uprightness  were  the  indispensable  requisites.^ 

Despite  all  the  efforts  in  his  behalf,  it  looked  for  some  time 
as  though  Brissot's  opponents  were  going  to  be  successful  in 
keeping  him  out  of  the  Legislative  Assembly.  Proposed  again 
and  again  in  the  Electoral  Assembly  of  Paris  he  was  again  and 
again  defeated,  and  it  was  only  after  repeated  attempts  that  on 
September  14  he  was  finally  elected  twelfth  deputy  from  Paris 
out  of  twenty-four. 2  His  election  under  such  circumstances 
was  a  decided  victory  for  the  advanced  party,  and  was  hailed 
with  great  rejoicing  by  the  citizens  of  Chartres,  by  the  Jacobin 
Club  of  Paris,  by  various  local  Jacobin  clubs,^'  by  the  radical 
press,*  and  by  his  personal  friends.  Madame  Roland  had  been 
among  those  who  had  followed  the  course  of  the  elections  with 
the  deepest  interest.  She  was  distressed  at  his  defeats,^  but 
greatly  delighted  at  his  ultimate  success.  Her  hope  for  him  was 
that  he  might  be  able  to  do  the  good  that  he  longed  to  do.« 

The  Assembly  was  composed,  for  the  most  part,  of  young 
men,  and,  as  a  result  of  the  self-denying  ordinance  passed  by 
the  Constituent  Assembly,  of  inexperienced  men.  It  thus 
offered  an  unusual  opportunity  to  Brissot,  one  of  the  few 
members  who  had  already  made  a  name  for  himself.  To  a  man 
whose  most  absorbing  interest  for  years  had  been  political 
reform,  now  to  have  a  share  in  actual  legislation  was  both  a 
reward  for  past  work  and  a  stimulus  to  further  effort.  And  he 
threw  himself  into  his  new  task  with  all  his  heart  and  soul.  He 

'  Pairiote  Frangais,  August  23,  1791. 

*  Charavay,  UAssemblee  ileciorale  de  Paris,  1791-92,  pp.  133-227.  See 
also  Appendix  D. 

'  Ldtrcs  de  felicitation  des  SociStSs  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution  de  VYonne 
et  de  Saint-Denis,  et  de  plusieurs  Slecteurs  du  district  de  Lyon,  pour  le  choix  de 
Brissot,  19,  20,  28  septembre,  1791.  Originaux  signes  A.N.    BMl. 

*  Charavay,  uhi  sup..  Int.,  xxix. 

6  Madame  Roland  to  Bangal,  September  3:  "Brissot  est  terrihlement  halotte; 
s'il  ne  passe  pas  aujotird'hui;  je  tremble  pour  lui."  Lettres,  ii,  368. 

«  Ibid.,  n,  384.  "La  nomination  de  Brissot  fut  celebree  par  toute  la  presse  pa- 
triate. CHait  le  premier  candidal  de  la  fraction  la  plus  avancce  de  VAssemblee 
qui  r6unit  la  majorite."   Charavay,  ubi  sup..  Int.,  xxix. 


224  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

gave  up  for  the  time  active  participation  in  the  editing  of  his 
journal,  "in  order  that  he  might  devote  himself  more  fully  to 
the  important  functions  to  which  the  choice  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens called  him." 

His  candidacy  had  been  well  supported  by  the  radical  press. 
The  only  democratic  journalist  who  expressed  doubt  as  to  his 
political  policy  was  Marat,  who  was  unable  to  forget  or  to  for- 
give Brissot's  support  of  Lafayette;  and  with  his  usual  penetra- 
tion, he  pointed  out  the  weakness  in  Brissot's  position.  Brissot, 
he  declared,  by  trying  to  conciliate  incompatible  interests,  had 
displeased  both  parties;  clear-sighted  patriots  lacked  confidence 
in  him,  while  the  enemies  of  the  country  distrusted  him.^  Bris- 
sot's opposition  to  the  constitution  and  outspoken  admiration 
for  a  republic,  followed  by  his  acceptance  of  the  constitution, 
certainly  did  give  ground  for  suspicion,  on  the  part  both  of  the 
conservatives  and  of  the  radicals.  And  when,  on  the  opening 
of  the  Legislative  Assembly,  he  took  the  oath  to  the  constitu- 
tion, the  royalist  journals  indulged  in  sarcastic  comment  at  his 
expense.  UAmi  du  Roi,  for  example,  in  referring  to  the  oath 
taken  by  the  deputies,  declared  that  "among  the  orators  of 
that  pious  opera  the  one  who  made  the  greatest  sensation  was 
M.  Brissot,  who  was  received  with  exaggerated  and  ironic 
applause.  People  supposed  that  it  would  cost  that  famous 
republican  much  effort  to  swear  fidelite  to  the  king;  but  it  must 
be  admitted  that  M.  Brissot  carried  it  off  with  a  very  good 
grace.  The  pleasure  of  seeing  himself  .  .  .  seated  upon  one 
of  the  national  thrones  made  him  swallow  the  pill  of  the  oath 
without  a  grimace."  ^ 

The  possible  effect  of  this  inconsistency  Brissot  had  not  failed 
to  appreciate,  and  in  an  address  to  the  Electoral  Assembly 
just  after  his  election,  he  had  attempted  to  set  himself  right.  "  I 
have  been  pictured  to  you  as  an  enemy  to  the  constitution," 
he  declared.  "Far  from  me  that  horrible  character.  To  wish 
to  improve  it  while  it  was  still  unfinished,  was  that  to  be  an 

*  L'Ami  du  peuple,  September  11,  1791. 

*  L'Ami  du  Roi,  October  6,  1791.  Quoted  in  Bouchez  et  Raux,  xii,  51. 


IVIEMBER  OF  THE   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    225 

enemy  of  the  constitution?  Finished,  entire,  to-day  it  com- 
mands respect,  and  its  worship  is  in  my  heart;  it  is  in  the  heart 
of  all  patriots."  ^ 

But,  in  this  same  address,  in  speaking  of  the  difficulties  with 
which  the  legislature  would  have  to  contend,  he  declared  that 
the  executive  power  was  without  energy  and  without  confi- 
dence, —  a  statement,  which,  while  it  might  be  taken  to  refer 
to  the  ministry,  might  at  the  same  time  be  suspected  of  imply- 
ing distrust  of  the  king  himseh,  and  of  containing  the  germ  of 
opposition  to  the  whole  executive  department  as  provided  for 
in  the  constitution.  The  royalist  journals  were  fundamentally 
right.  The  above  declaration  as  to  his  devotion  to  the  consti- 
tution, while  not  untrue,  was  not  the  whole  truth.  Brissot's 
ardor  was  for  the  new  constitution  only  so  far  as  it  represented 
a  victory  over  the  old  regime;  for  it,  as  a  finished  and  unchange- 
able form  of  government,  his  ardor  was  much  less;  and  in  the 
new  legislature  he  took  his  seat,  not  with  the  right,  which 
wanted  to  maintain  the  constitution,  the  whole  constitution, 
and  the  constitution  at  any  cost;  but  with  the  left,  which, 
while  not  openly  opposing  the  constitution,  by  no  means  ac- 
cepted it  as  the  climax  of  the  Revolution  and  which  was  not  in 
the  least  incluaed  to  regard  the  Revolution  as  finished.  It  was 
with  the  deputies  from  the  Gironde,  Vergniaud,  Gensonn6,  and 
Guadet,  who  formed  the  nucleus  of  that  group  afterward  to  be 
knowTi  as  the  Girondins,  with  whom  he  especially  allied  himself. 
According  to  Paganel,  his  motive  in  connecting  himself  with 
them  was  that  he  might  have  their  support  in  his  contest  in 
behalf  of  the  mulattoes.^  At  all  events,  his  opinions  soon  ac- 
quired much  weight  w^th  them,  and  he  became  so  important 
and  influential  a  member  of  the  Assembly  that  his  political 
adherents,  both  within  the  Assembly  and  without,  were  known 
as  Brissotins.  As  has  been  said,  this  was  the  period  of  his  great- 
est influence.  This  influence  was  due  in  part  to  his  numerous 
speeches  before  the  Assembly.  He  always  spoke  with  clearness 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  September  17,  1791. 
*  Paganel,  Essai  historique,  ii,  228. 


226  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

and  some  force,  and  occasionally  with  eloquence,  but  he  was 
not  a  great  orator.  His  real  strength  lay  in  the  tremendous 
earnestness  with  which  he  worked,  in  his  untiring  perseverance, 
and  in  his  zeal  in  organizing  and  directing  afiFairs  outside  as 
well  as  in  the  Assembly  itself.^ 

The  first  business  of  the  Assembly  was  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary machinery  for  work,  and  it  had  hardly  begun  the  task 
when  Brissot,  with  his  usual  readiness,  came  forward  with  a 
plan  for  the  organization  of  committees;  but,  although  he  made 
every  effort  to  be  heard,  he  could  not  obtain  the  floor.  Un- 
daunted by  this  failure,  he  gave  the  speech  at  the  Jacobin  Club 
and  had  it  printed.  It  was  a  clear  and  forcible  argument  in 
favor  of  having  as  few  committees  as  possible.  Committees 
were  necessary,  he  admitted,  but  to  create  many  committees 
was  to  increase  ministerial  influence,  to  hinder  freedom  of 
opinion,  and  to  encourage  the  despotism  of  individuals.  He 
would  even  dispense,  in  time  of  peace,  with  a  separate  diplo- 
matic committee,  but  would  unite  it  with  the  committees  on 
military  and  marine  affairs,  under  the  general  name  of  the  com- 
mittee of  safety  and  defense.-  A  diplomatic  committee  was 
nevertheless  formed  on  October  25,  and  Brissot's  reputation 
for  an  extended  knowledge  of  foreign  affairs  secured  his  election 
to  it.3 

As  the  body  to  which  foreign  affairs  were  referred,  the  diplo- 
matic committee  was  one  of  the  most  important,  if  not  the  most 
important,  of  all  the  committees;  and  Brissot,  by  virtue  of  his 
position  as  its  best  known  member,  with  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  Koch,  the  learned  professor  of  international  law  at  the 

1  See  p.  420. 

2  Discours  sur  V organisation  des  comites  destine  a  etre  prononce  a  VAssemblSe 
nationale  le  12  octobre  1791,  prononce  aus  Jacobins  le  H  octobre.  See  his  prelim- 
inary note.  Many  of  his  later  speeches,  both  at  the  Club  and  at  the  Assembly, 
were  printed  for  him  by  these  respective  bodies. 

3  Proces-verbal  de  I'Assemblee  nationale,  i,  232.  See  also  Ibid.,  October  18, 
1791.  He  was  elected  secretary  on  that  date.  There  were  six  secretaries,  re- 
newed by  half  every  two  weeks.  The  committee  was  in  part  renewed  (by  lot) 
March  2,  but  Brissot  remained  in  the  committee.  He  withdrew  on  June  6, 
and  was  reelected  July  17. 


I^IEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    227 

University  of  Strasbourg,  was  thus  able  to  exercise  a  dominat- 
ing influence  upon  foreign  affairs. ^  In  view  of  his  previous 
utterances  the  general  policy  which  Brissot  would  follow  was 
not  difficult  to  predict.  In  his  opinion,  diplomacy  was  an 
adjunct  of  the  old  regime,  and  since  the  old  regime  was  an  evil, 
diplomacy  was  an  evil.  He  failed  even  to  appreciate  the  possible 
use  of  diplomacy  as  a  means  of  avoiding  war,  and  urged  France 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  United  States  with  regard  to  the 
diplomatic  corps.  He  especially  urged  that  the  number  of  per- 
sons employed  be  dimmished  and  that  the  salaries  of  those  who 
were  retained  be  reduced.  Such  measures,  Brissot  protested, 
would  only  tend  toward  peace.^ 

The  immediate  diplomatic  problems  which  confronted  the 
Assembly  in  its  opening  days  involved  the  relation  of  France 
both  to  the  emigres  and  to  the  German  princes  along  the  Rhine, 
to  whom  many  of  the  emigres  had  fled.  The  revolutionists  were 
incensed  against  these  princes  for  the  support  they  had  given 
to  the  anti-revolutionary  party;  and  the  German  princes,  many 
of  whom  had  property  within  French  territory,  were  incensed 
against  the  revolutionists  on  account  of  the  recent  abolition  of 
feudal  rights.  Alleging  that  they  still  held  their  feudal  privi- 
leges from  the  emperor,  they  appealed  to  him  to  redress  their 
wrongs.^  At  the  same  time  they  continued  to  aid  the  emigres, 
who,  in  turn,  were  stirring  them  up  against  France.  Wliat  was 
to  be  the  attitude  of  France  toward  these  emigres  and  toward 
the  princes  who  were  supporting  them?  This,  in  turn,  involved 
the  question  of  the  attitude  of  France  toward  the  emigres  in 
general.  To  these  questions  Brissot  had  a  ready  answer,  and 
on  October  20,  in  a  speech  before  the  Assembly,  set  forth  his 
views  at  length.  Its  most  notable  feature  was  its  attempt  to 
carry  out  to  the  fullest  extent  the  liberty  guaranteed  by  the 

1  For  an  extended  consideration  of  the  subject  of  Brissot's  influence  on  for- 
eign affairs  see  H.  A.  Goetz-Bernstein,  La  Diphmatie  de  la  Gironde,  Jacques 
Pierre  Brissot,  Paris,  1912. 

2  Patrioie  Frangais,  November  16,  1789. 

»  The  feudal  relation  of  "the  immediates"  in  Alsace  was  "ambiguous, 
obscure,  and  litigious."  Sorel,  U Europe  et  la  Revolution  frauQaise,  u,  78. 


228  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

declaration  of  rights  and  at  the  same  time  protect  France  from 
the  dangers  to  which  that  Hberty  might  give  rise.  The  laws 
against  the  emigres,  he  maintained,  had  been  confused  with  the 
laws  against  revolt.  The  declaration  of  rights  proclaimed  free- 
dom to  every  one  to  go  wherever  it  seemed  good  unto  him; 
from  which  it  resulted  that  the  citizens  ought  to  be  entirely 
free  to  emigrate.  Then,  coming  down  to  more  practical  con- 
siderations, he  drew  example  from  the  emigration  of  the  Pro- 
testants under  Louis  XIV,  and  argued  that  if  that  powerful 
monarch,  with  his  hordes  of  spies,  priests,  and  soldiers,  was  not 
able  to  prevent  emigration,  it  would  be  quite  useless  for  France, 
under  existing  conditions,  to  attempt  it.  He  therefore  proposed 
that  all  emigres  should  be  exhorted  to  return  to  France,  but 
that  in  meting  out  punishment,  a  clear-cut  distinction  should 
be  made  between  princes  and  public  functionaries  on  the  one 
hand,  and  ordinary  citizens  on  the  other.  As  for  the  foreign 
princes  who  were  encouraging  the  emigres,  here  it  was  no  longer 
a  question  of  liberty,  but  one  of  self-defense;  France  must  act 
with  firmness  and  dispatch.  Though  these  princes  had  univer- 
sally opposed  the  Revolution,  they  were  not  to  be  feared,  even 
though  their  intentions  were  hostile.  But,  he  declared,  they 
ought  to  be  asked  what  their  intentions  really  were,  and  if 
they  refused  to  stop  protecting  the  emigres  or  if  they  insisted 
on  armed  mediation,  France  must  not  wait  for  them,  but  must 
be  the  first  to  make  the  attack. 

This,  Brissot's  first  speech  of  importance  before  the  Legisla- 
tive Assembly,  was  a  great  success.  He  was  vigorously  ap- 
plauded and  the  applause  continued  as  he  made  his  way  down 
from  the  tribune  till  he  reached  his  seat.^  Outside  of  the 
Assembly  it  was  received  in  quite  different  ways  by  different 
factions  of  the  press.  According  to  the  Journal  de  la  cour  et  de 
la  ville,  it  was  "a  ridiculous  harangue  and  consequently  ob- 
tained the  honor  of  being  printed."  "  We  will  not  speak  further 
of  it,"  added  the  same  journal,  "except  to  say  that  the  consti- 
tution had  already  deprived  le  sieur  Brissot  of  his  surname  de 
1  Moniteur,  October  22,  1791. 


IME:MBER  of  the  legislative  assembly    229 

Varville  [sic].  This  speech  ought  surely  to  make  him  lose  the 
first  three  letters  of  the  name  which  are  left."  ^  Les  Revolutions 
de  France  et  de  Brabant,  on  the  other  hand,  spoke  of  it  as  a 
superb  speech  and  his  draft  of  a  decree  as  cutting  the  evil  at 
the  root.^ 

After  a  discussion  of  several  weeks,  a  decree  was  finally 
passed,  November  9,  which,  while  modifying  somewhat  his 
proposal,  accepted  the  distinction  between  classes  which  he 
laid  down,  severe  penalties  for  flight  being  imposed  only  upon 
princes  and  public  functionaries,  and  upon  those  bearing  arms 
against  France.^ 

While  the  king  still  had  this  decree  under  advisement,  Bris- 
sot,  on  November  15,  informed  the  Assembly  that  the  commit- 
tee was  ready  to  report  upon  the  action  to  be  taken  with  regard 
to  the  foreign  powers  who  had  aided  fugitives,  and  asked  that 
the  matter  be  placed  on  the  calendar  for  early  discussion,*  The 
subject  did  not,  however,  receive  the  prompt  attention  Brissot 
wished,  and  when  the  report  was  presented  it  was  by  Brissot's 
more  conservative  colleague,  Koch.^  Although  admitting  that 
the  German  princes  of  the  empire  were  in  the  wrong  in  harboring 
and  protecting  the  emigres,  Koch  showed  his  moderation  by 
suggesting  that  it  was  not  improbable  that  firm  and  immediate 
action  might  be  successful  in  averting  war.  There  was  no  need 
to  despair,  he  maintained,  of  making  those  German  princes 
understand  that  it  was  neither  to  their  interest  nor  to  their 
glory  to  intrigue  with  a  few  fugitives.  To  bring  these  princes 
to  a  realization  of  their  duty  to  a  neighboring  nation  and  to  the 
empire  was  by  no  means  impossible.  Again,  on  November  29, 
he  spoke  in  the  same  tone,  and  while  accepting  the  substance 
of  a  motion  of  Daverhoult's  to  the  effect  that  a  committee  of 
twenty-four  be  appointed  to  request  the  king  to  communicate 
with  the  German  princes,  asking  them  to  state  their  intentions, 
he  objected  to  that  part  of  the  motion  which  limited  to  two 

1  Number  of  October  22,  1791.  «  No.  98. 

'  Moniteur,  November  10,  1791. 

*  Ibid.,  November  16,  1791.  B  Ibid.,  November  SJ3,  1791. 


230  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

weeks  the  time  within  which  the  princes  should  be  required  to 
dismiss  the  emigres.  Such  a  demand,  he  insisted,  was  unreason- 
able and  it  savored  too  much  of  an  ultimatum.  More  time 
should  be  given  the  princes.^ 

The  conciliatory  tone  of  Koch's  speech  was  very  different  from 
the  warlike  and  immoderate  tone  of  Isnard's  reply.  "Let  us 
say  to  Europe,"  he  cried,  "that  if  the  French  people  draw  the 
sword  they  will  cast  the  scabbard  behind  them,  and  that  they 
will  sheathe  the  sword  again  only  when  they  return  crowned 
with  the  laurels  of  victory;  and  that  if,  in  spite  of  their  might 
and  courage,  they  should  be  vanquished  in  the  defense  of  lib- 
erty, their  enemies  will  reign  only  over  corpses.  Let  us  say  to 
Europe  if  the  cabinets  of  foreign  courts  excite  a  war  of  kings 
against  peoples  we  will  excite  a  war  of  peoples  against  kings."  ^ 
This  language  was  not  exactly  calculated  to  calm  the  feelings 
of  the  kings  in  question,  and,  as  the  Patriote  Frangais  remarked, 
was  indeed  "the  sword  suspended  over  the  head  of  Damocles."  ^ 
It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  it  is  the  language  of  which 
the  Patriote  Frangais  approved,  and  of  which  it  showed  its 
approval  by  noticing  at  some  length  the  speech  of  Isnard,  while 
it  had  not  a  word  to  say  of  that  of  Koch.  But  in  spite  of  the 
eloquence  of  Isnard,  Koch's  arguments  prevailed  and  Daver- 
hoult's  motion  was  amended  so  as  to  omit  the  fixed  limit  within 
which  the  princes  must  reply.  As  passed,  it  simply  provided 
that  the  king  be  requested  to  make  evident  by  all  proper  means 
to  the  princes  along  the  Rhine  the  absolute  necessity  of  with- 
drawing all  assistance  from  the  French  emigres.'^ 

Meanwhile,  the  king  had  vetoed  the  decree  against  the 
emigres,  a  step  which  Brissot  did  not  hesitate  to  denounce  in 
severe  terms.  "The  veto  put  by  the  king  upon  the  decree 
against  the  emigres,'^  he  declared,  "is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of 
the  constitution,  because,  in  the  first  place,  it  was  demanded 
and  sanctioned  by  public  opinion  and  because  the  king  has- 
tened to  give  his  veto  without  awaiting  the  expiration  of  the 

1  Moniteur,  November  30,  1791.  *  Ihid.,  December  1,  1791. 

'  Patriote  Frangais,  November  30,  1791.        *  Moniteur,  December  1,  1791. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATI\1E  ASSEMBLY    231 

time  allowed  him  by  the  constitution  in  which  to  consult  public 
opinion."  ^ 

The  general  discussion  of  the  subject  of  the  emigres  now  gave 
place  for  a  moment  to  the  discussion  of  a  special  case.  It  was  a 
question  of  action  against  Cardinal  de  Rohan,  who  was  charged 
with  complicity  in  the  plot  to  deliver  Strasbourg  to  the  emigres. 
Again  the  Patriote  Frangais  supported  the  radical  side,  repre- 
sented in  this  case  by  Ruhl,  and  declared  that  it  was  their  right 
and  their  duty  to  present  a  decree  against  the  cardinal  as  a 
French  rebel. ^  Koch  in  reply  reminded  the  Assembly  that  since 
Cardinal  de  Rohan,  by  abandoning  his  domicile  in  France,  had 
lost  his  status  as  a  French  citizen,  they  could  not  indict  him 
without  exposing  themselves  uselessly  to  the  danger  of  arousing 
the  empire.  Koch  thus  succeeded  in  checking  the  zeal  of  the 
Assembly. 

With  such  an  appeal  to  the  fear  of  war  Brissot  was  not  in 
sympathy.  For  some  time  he  had  maintained  that  the  possi- 
bility of  war  was  no  cause  for  alarm;  if  France  were  timorous 
the  example  of  America  might  well  give  her  courage.  "What 
soldiers  of  despotism,"  he  cried,  "can  for  any  length  of  time 
withstand  the  soldiers  of  liberty!  The  soldiers  of  tyrants  are 
after  pay,  they  have  little  fidelity,  and  desert  on  the  first  occa- 
sion. The  soldier  of  liberty  fears  neither  fatigue,  danger,  nor 
hunger  —  he  runs,  he  flies  at  the  cry  of  liberty,  while  despotism 
is  scarcely  taking  a  few  tottering  steps.  .  .  .  Oh,  you  who  doubt 
the  prodigious  and  supernatural  effects  which  the  love  of  liberty 
is  able  to  inspire  in  men,  think  what  the  Americans  did  to  gain 
their  independence!  Think,  for  example,  how  Dr.  Warren,  who 
had  never  handled  a  musket,  defended  Bunker  Hill  with  a 
handful  of  Americans,  badly  armed  and  badly  disciplined!  .  .  . 
Follow  General  Washington  making  head  with  three  or  four 
thousand  peasants  against  thirty  thousand  Englishmen!"  ' 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  December  12,  1791. 

2  Ibid.,  December  17,  1791;  and  Moniteur,  December  18,  1791. 

3  Discours  suT  la  question  de  savoir  si  le  roi  pent  etrejugi,  July  10,  1791.  See 
Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  ii,  619-20. 


232  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

But  Brissot  not  only  maintained  that  war  was  not  to  be 
feared,  but  that  France  should  take  the  initiative,^  There  were 
many  who  argued  with  him  that  the  equivocal  attitude  of  the 
German  princes  in  regard  to  the  emigres  and  their  openly  ex- 
pressed sympathy  with  the  anti-revolutionary  party  in  France 
ought  not  to  be  tolerated.  Yet  a  large  section,  both  of  the 
Assembly  and  of  the  Jacobin  Club,  held  that  the  trouble  could 
be  settled  by  negotiation  and  diplomacy;  that  France  was  not 
ready  for  war,  and  that  to  drag  her  into  a  war  for  which  she 
was  not  prepared  was  sheer  folly.  Between  the  war  and  the 
anti-war  factions,  led  respectively  by  Brissot  and  Robespierre, 
a  prolonged  struggle  now  began. ^  It  was  an  uneven  contest. 
The  traditional  and  long-continued  enmity  toward  Austria, 
which  in  the  minds  of  many  Frenchmen  the  treaty  of  1756  had 
formally  but  not  really  ended,  gave  to  Brissot  a  decided  advan- 
tage.^ 

The  personal  contest  with  Robespierre  was  carried  on  at  the 
Jacobin  Club,  where  Brissot  was  just  at  the  height  of  his  popu- 
larity.* The  combat  began  on  December  16,  when  Brissot  in 
one  of  his  longest  and  most  eloquent  speeches  advocated  imme- 
diate war.   He  began  by  declaring  that,  for  a  people  who  had 

1  Moniteur,  October  22,  1791. 

*  Their  previous  relations  had  not  been  unfriendly.  Brissot  had  been  in 
sympathy  with  Robespierre's  democracy  and  especially  with  his  opposition  to 
the  repeal  of  the  decree  of  May  15,  but  Robespierre  had  been  much  less  inclined 
toward  republicanism  than  Brissot. 

'  Glagau,  Diefranzosische  Legislative  und  der  Ursprung  der  Revolutionskriege, 
1791-92,  p.  87. 

*  His  popularity  seems  to  date  from  his  speech  on  the  dethronement  of  the 
king  (see  pp.  175-176).  The  Club  watched  with  keen  interest  his  struggle  for 
election  to  the  Assembly  and  received  the  news  of  his  success  with  great  de- 
light. Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  iii,  128,  135.  His  first  appearance  at  the  Jacobin 
Club  after  his  election  was  greeted  with  enthusiastic  applause,  and  in  response 
he  made  a  brief  but  telling  speech,  in  which  he  told  the  Jacobins  that  he  knew 
what  they  wanted  was  deeds  not  words,  and  assured  them  that  they  would 
always  find  him  at  the  tribune  of  the  National  Assembly  under  the  flag  of 
liberty.  A  few  days  later  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Club.  See  Aulard, 
Les  Jacobins,  iii,  195.  The  exact  date  of  his  election  is  not  given,  nor  is  the 
date  of  his  retirement.  He  is  mentioned  as  president  October  3,  and  his  retire- 
ment could  not  have  been  later  than  October  19. 


IMEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATR^  ASSEMBLY    233 

just  acquired  their  liberty  after  a  dozen  centuries  of  slavery, 
war  was  necessary  in  order  to  establish  that  liberty  on  a  firm 
basis,  m  order  to  test  it,  to  discover  whether  people  were  worthy 
of  it.  It  was  necessary,  moreover,  in  order  to  purge  away  the 
vices  of  despotism  and  to  get  rid  of  men  who  might  still  be  a 
source  of  corruption.  He  then  went  on  to  argue  that  France 
had  already  had  sufficient  provocation;  that  if  she  did  not 
make  the  attack,  other  nations  would  think  her  weak  and 
would  perpetrate  further  outrages;  that  the  war  would  not 
injure  commerce,  and  that  it  was  the  very  best  means  of  strik- 
ing at  a  single  blow  the  very  center  of  the  revolutionary 
movement,  "the  criminals  at  Coblenz."  Finally,  he  declared 
that  there  was  not  the  slightest  danger  that  the  king  could 
make  use  of  the  army  to  recover  his  former  crown.  The  day 
had  gone  by  when  the  soldiers  would  lend  themselves  to  any 
such  dishonor.  At  every  step  in  the  argument  Brissot  cited 
American  example  which  he  seemed  to  think  conclusive. 
America  has  passed  safely  through  the  crucible  of  war,  he 
argued,  why  should  not  France?  ^ 

At  the  same  time  that  Brissot  was  arguing  at  the  Jacobin 
Club  for  war,  the  Patriote  Frangais  was  also  clamoring  for  it. 
"  War !  War !  Such  is  the  cry  of  all  French  patriots,"  it  declared; 
"such  is  the  desire  of  all  the  friends  of  liberty  scattered  all  over 
Europe,  who  are  only  awaiting  that  happy  diversion  in  order 
to  attack  and  overthrow  their  tyrants.  It  is  that  expiatory  war 
which  is  to  renew  the  face  of  the  world  and  plant  the  standard 
of  hberty  upon  the  palaces  of  kings,  upon  the  seraglios  of  sul- 
tans, upon  the  chdteaux  of  petty  feudal  tyrants  and  upon  the 
temples  of  popes  and  muftis."  ^ 

jNIeanwhile,  the  war  question  entered  a  new  phase.  The  king 
had  called  Narbonne  to  the  ministry  of  war  and  the  latter  had 
instigated  a  vigorous  war  policy.  This  was  like  stealmg  their 

^  Discours  suT  la  necessite  de  declarer  la  guerre. 

2  Patriote  Frangais,  December  17,  1791.  The  immediate  direction  of  the 
Patriote  Frangais  at  this  period,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  abandoned  by 
Brissot  in  order  that  he  might  devote  himself  more  entirely  to  the  work  of  a 
legislator,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  continued  to  represent  his  sentiments. 


234  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

powder  and  was  decidedly  disconcerting  to  Brissot  and  his 
friends.  Brissot  had  declared  the  center  of  the  counter-revolu- 
tion to  be  the  camp  of  the  emigres  at  Coblenz,  and,  by  his  cen- 
sure of  the  king  for  leniency  toward  the  emigres,  had  pretty 
plainly  insinuated  his  connection  with  the  counter-revolution 
and  the  anti-war  faction.  Now  to  find  the  king  appearing  as 
the  champion  of  war  decidedly  weakened  his  arguments.  This 
was  a  situation  of  which  the  opponents  of  war  were  not  slow  to 
take  advantage.  On  December  18,  Robespierre  made  a  speech 
on  the  subject  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  in  which  he  pointed  out 
that  as  the  ministry  desired  war,  to  bring  it  about  would  only 
be  playing  into  their  hands.  "War,"  he  declared,  "is  always 
the  first  desire  of  a  powerful  government  which  desires  to 
increase  its  power.  I  need  not  say  that  it  is  during  war  that  the 
ministry  succeeds  in  exhausting  the  people  and  wasting  the 
revenues;  that  it  covers  its  depredations  and  its  sins  with  an 
impenetrable  veil.  I  will  not  speak  to  you  of  what  touches  most 
directly  the  heart  of  our  interests.  It  is  during  war  that  the 
executive  power  displays  the  most  dangerous  energy;  that  it 
exercises  a  kind  of  dictatorship  which  only  serves  to  frighten 
liberty;  it  is  during  war  that  people  neglect  their  civil  and  polit- 
ical rights,  and  occupy  themselves  only  with  foreign  affairs;  it  is 
during  war  that  they  turn  their  attention  from  their  legislators 
and  magistrates  and  attach  all  their  interests  and  hopes  to 
their  generals  and  ministers."  ^ 

The  answer  of  the  Patriote  Franqais  to  this  trenchant  argu- 
ment was  that  the  court  only  made  a  pretense  of  desiring  war, 
but  in  reality  it  did  not  desire  it  at  all,  as  was  evident  from  the 
way  in  which  it  had  allowed  the  counter-revolution  to  grow  and 
extend.^  The  fact  that  it  had  not  ceased  to  protect  the  enemies 
of  the  Revolution  within  was  good  reason  for  suspecting  that  it 
might  have  some  understanding  with  the  enemies  without.^ 

Inspired  by  this  idea  the  demands  for  war  continued.  Brissot 

*  Discoitrs  de  Maximilien  Robespierre,  December  18,  1791. 

'  Reference  to  the  vetoes  of  the  decrees  against  the  emigrSs  and  priests. 

'  Patriote  Franqais,  December  20,  1791. 


ME^^IBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    235 

was  well  supported.   On  the  same  day  on  which  Robespierre 
made  his  second  speech  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  December  18, 
Roederer  had  argued  for  war,  especially  on  the  ground  of  self- 
defense,  and  in  the  Assembly  the  cause  was  now  taken  up  by 
Louvet  and  Gensonne,  who  even  exceeded  Brissot  himself  in 
the  vehemence  of  their  demands.    "We  shall  ask  you  for  a 
scourge,  terrible  but  indispensable,"  cried  Louvet.   "We  shall 
ask  for  war.  War!  And  instantly  let  France  rise  in  arms!  .  .  . 
With  the  swiftness  of  lightning  let  thousands  of  our  citizen 
soldiers  precipitate  themselves  upon  the  domains  of  feudalism. 
Let  them  stop  only  where  servitude  ends;  let  the  palace  be  sur- 
rounded by  bayonets;  let  the  declaration  of  rights  be  deposited 
in  the  cottage.   Let  man  everywhere,  educated  and  delivered 
from  oppression,  regain  the  feeling  of  his  early  dignity,  let  the 
human  race  arise  and  breathe."  '  But  in  order  that  these  some- 
what extensive  aims  might  be  realized,  money  was  necessary, 
and  the  Assembly  was  speedily  brought  down  from  the  clouds 
to  consider  this  practical  necessity  by  a  request  of  Narbonne 
for  twenty  millions.  Of  the  announcement  that  Narbonne  was 
to  be  made  minister  of  war,  the  Patriote  Frangais  had  spoken 
with  anything  but  enthusiasm,  and  had  remarked,  when  he 
took  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  king  and  the  constitution,  that 
it  was  to  be  hoped  that  it  was  not  an  empty  form. 2  But  now 
that  Narbonne  was  pursuing  an  active  war  policy,  the  Brisso- 
tins,  although  they  were  not  altogether  in  sympathy  with  him, 
came  to  a  partial  agreement  at  least  as  far  as  a  common  deter- 
mination to  seek  alliance  with  England  and  Prussia  ^  and  to 
urge  a  vigorous  war  policy  against  xVustria.    To  carry  out  this 
purpose  they  now  supported  his  demand  for  money  .*   Accord- 
ingly, on  December  26,  Brissot  explained  the  action  of  the 
committees  on  the  subject  and  Gensonne  presented  the  report. 
There  was  no  longer  a  middle  ground  between  liberty  and  slav- 
ery, Gensonne  declared.    And,  in  closing  his  speech,  he  pro- 
claimed with  almost  the  ardor  of  Isnard:  "The  common  enemy 

1  Moniteur,  December  27,  1791.        '  Patriate  Franqaw,  November  8,  1791. 
»  See  p.  250.  *  Glagau,  78-85. 


236  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

is  at  the  gates,  a  general  assault  threatens  us.  Why  do  we  dis- 
pute? Why  do  we  fight  each  other?  .  .  .  Let  us  run  to  the 
breach  to  defend  our  ramparts  or  to  be  buried  under  the 
ruins."  ^  The  appeal  was  effective,  for  the  Assembly  voted 
the  twenty  millions  unanimously. 

This  enthusiasm  Brissot  did  not  allow  to  cool,  and  a  few  days 
later  made  another  speech  of  most  belligerent  temper.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  king  was  now  favoring  a  warlike  attitude, 
Brissot  did  not  hesitate  to  cast  suspicion  on  the  sincerity  of  his 
intentions.  "You  passed  a  decree  against  the  rebels,"  he  re- 
minded the  Assembly ;  "  the  king's  veto  made  it  of  no  effect.  .  .  . 
The  enemies  of  the  Revolution  have  continued  their  threats 
and  their  gatherings;  the  executive  power  has  continued  its 
indulgence."  And  even  when  the  king  did  take  active  steps, 
Brissot  continued,  he  showed  that  he  did  not  realize  what  was 
fitting  a  constitutional  king,  by  announcing  to  the  Elector  of 
Treves  that  he  would  regard  him  as  an  enemy  instead  of  saying 
that  the  nation  would  regard  him  as  an  enemy.  But,  granted 
that  the  motive  of  the  king  might  be  open  to  suspicion,  that 
was  no  reason  for  not  declaring  war.  As  for  possible  danger, 
Brissot  was  most  optimistic  and  maintained  that,  although 
foreign  nations  were  making  warlike  preparations,  they  were 
not  to  be  feared.  The  English  people,  he  declared,  if  not  the 
English  government,  were  in  sympathy  with  the  Revolution; 
Austria  was  torn  by  internal  dissensions,  Germany  was  really 
peaceable,  Sweden  was  poor,  Russia  was  too  far  away,  Poland 
was  their  friend.  Moreover,  war  was  necessary  for  honor's 
sake,  for  external  safety,  for  internal  tranquillity;  in  order  to 
establish  the  finances  and  public  credit  of  France;  in  order 
to  put  an  end  to  terror,  treason,  and  anarchy.  War  was  actually 
a  national  benefit,  and  the  only  calamity  to  be  feared  was  not 
to  have  war.  He  then  spoke  of  the  diplomatic  transactions,  and 
presented  the  draft  of  a  decree  which  included  a  notification 
to  foreign  powers  that  any  help  given  to  French  emigres  would 
be  regarded  as  an  act  of  hostility;  a  demand  upon  the  emperor 
1  Moniteur,  December  28,  1791. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    237 

that  he  not  only  use  his  good  offices  with  the  German  princes, 
but  also  that  he  send  troops  into  Brabant  to  prevent  all  gather- 
ings of  rebels;  and  the  recall  of  the  representatives  of  France 
from  the  courts  of  Stockholm,  St.  Petersburg,  and  Rome.^  The 
whole  speech  showed  an  utter  disregard  of  diplomatic  usage, 
and  its  entire  argument  may  be  summed  up  in  the  phrase  which 
Brissot  used  with  telling  effect:  "The  French  Revolution  has 
overturned  all  diplomacy."  ^ 

Brissot  was  followed  by  H^rault  de  S6chelles  and  by  Condor- 
cet,  who  presented  drafts  of  an  address,  setting  forth  in  unmis- 
takable terms  the  attitude  of  the  war  party  toward  the  Rhenish 
princes.3  In  a  burst  of  enthusiasm  it  was  proposed  to  send  this 
address,  not  only  to  the  departments,  but  also  to  foreign  pow- 
ers. Cooler  heads  fortunately  perceived  the  rashness  of  such 
procedure  and  the  clause  concerning  foreign  powers  was  with- 
dra^s-n;  but  the  essential  part  of  the  motion  —  an  indictment 
of  the  French  princes  who  were  m  arms  agamst  France  —  was 

C3.mGcl 

While  these  decrees  were  being  discussed,  Brissot  resumed 
the  conflict  with  Robespierre  at  the  Jacobin  Club  and  made 
another  attempt  to  convince  the  society  that  war  would  not 
mean  danger.  As  before,  he  drew  his  illustrations  from  America 
and  considered  actual  conditions  from  a  most  optimistic  and 
impractical  point  of  view.  There  was  no  longer  reason  to  fear 
the  ministry,  he  argued,  neither  was  there  reason  to  fear  the 
final  outcome.  If  France  was  successful  under  despotism,  what 
might  not  be  expected  from  France  now  that  she  was  free?  As 
for  the  internal  dangers  of  treason  and  loss  of  credit,  treason 

1  3/oni7eMr,  December  30  and  31,  1791.  ,  „.,=  ,,«* 

2  In  spite  of  his  disdain  for  the  diplomacy  of  the  old  regime.  Bnssot  ^v  as  not 
always  insistent,  men,  for  example,  the  rights  of  certam  I'-^f  "f  ^°^ 
in  Spain  were  involved,  he  was  the  first  to  make  loud  -o^P^/^^^t  ^hat  the 
Pacte  de  Famille  -  that  is  to  say.  the  defensive  alliance  which  l^^d  taken  the 
place  of  the  original  compact  -  had  been  violated.  But  when,  a  feu  ueeks 
later,  it  was  pointed  out  that  France  in  turn  owed  something  to  foreign  pow  ers. 
he  was  as  su^ft  to  denounce  that  same  Pacte  de  Famdle  as  impolitic,  danger- 
ous, and  unconstitutional."   Moniteur,  January  30.  1792. 

3  Moniteur,  December  31.  1791.  *  Und.,  January  2.  1792. 


238  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

was  really  to  be  desired  as  a  means  of  getting  rid  of  poison, 
and  the  prosperity  of  the  finances  depended  on  their  putting 
down  the  rebels.  Moreover,  they  would  receive  a  warm  welcome 
from  the  oppressed  peoples  against  whose  rulers  they  were  eon- 
tending.  Finally,  heroes  would  arise  in  France  as  in  America, 
and  if  America,  which  was  far  worse  off  than  France,  was  victo- 
rious, why  should  France  too  not  win  victory?  ^ 

This  argument  was  in  turn  answered  by  Robespierre,  who, 
in  an  admirable  speech,  very  skillfully  met  the  fallacies  of 
Brissot's  reasoning.  He  began  by  admitting  that  sentiment 
and  emotion  were  on  the  side  of  war,  and  that  to  argue  against 
it  was  to  support  an  unpopular  cause.  "But,"  he  said,  —  and 
this  was  the  basis  of  his  argument,  —  "reason  is  against  it. 
Brissot's  idea  is  beautiful,  theoretically,  but  are  we  so  sure  of 
success?  It  is  admitted  that  war  is  desired  by  the  emigres,  the 
ministry,  and  the  intriguers  of  the  court,  and  all  these  factions 
constitute  too  dangerous  and  subtle  a  menace  to  be  overlooked. 
America's  example,  as  an  argument  for  our  success,  is  worthless, 
because  the  circumstances  are  different;  and  as  for  the  state- 
ment that  we  will  find  a  ready  response  among  the  peoples  of 
the  countries  against  which  we  fight,  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
people  do  not  change  their  customs  easily  and  that  no  one  loves 
armed  missionaries.  The  thing  for  us  to  do,"  he  concluded,  "is 
to  set  our  own  affairs  in  order  and  to  acquire  liberty  for  our- 
selves before  offering  it  to  others."  ^ 

A  few  days  later,  Louvet,  supporting  Brissot,  replied  to  these 
arguments,^  and  on  January  11  Robespierre  spoke  again.*  In 
spite  of  Robespierre's  efforts,  Brissot  won  a  signal,  if  temporary, 
victory,  for  the  society  voted  to  send  to  the  aflBliated  clubs  a 
circular  letter  prepared  by  the  correspondence  committee  of  the 

^  Second  discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot  .  .  .  sur  la  nicessite  de  faire  la  guerre. 
December  30, 1791 .    See  also  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  iii,  303. 

2  Discours  de  Maximilien  Robespierre  sur  la  guerre.  January  2, 1792.  Aulard, 
Les  Jacobins,  iii,  309. 

3  Discours  de  J ean-Bajptiste  Louvet  sur  la  guerre,  January  9,  1792.  AuJard, 
Les  Jacobins,  ni,  317. 

*  Ibid.,  Ill,  318. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    239 

Jacobins,  in  which  the  arguments  in  favor  of  war  were  set  forth 
and  certain  newspapers,  including  the  Patriate  FraH(:ais,  were 
recommended  as  patriotic.  This  was  certainly  equivalent  to  an 
approval  of  war,  for  the  Pairiute  Fran^ais  was  belligerency 
itself,  reportmg  at  length  speeches  in  favor  of  war  and  casting 
contempt  on  all  arguments  against  it. 

Meanwhile,  the  discussion  in  the  Assembly  shifted  from  the 
emigres  and  their  protectors,  the  princes,  to  the  emperor,  to 
whom,  as  head  of  the  empire,  the  princes  appealed.  On  January 
14,  Gensonn^,  in  the  name  of  the  diplomatic  committee,  pre- 
sented a  report  on  the  conduct  to  be  pursued  toward  the 
emperor.  The  report  declared  that,  inasnmch  as  Austria  had 
turned  the  treaty  of  1756  to  her  owti  profit,  and  since  the 
emperor  had  sanctioned  the  encouragement  of  the  emigres  by 
the  Elector  of  Treves,  and  had  himself  been  responsible  for  the 
declaration  of  Pilnitz  and  the  Padua  circular,  the  ministers 
should  be  required  to  demand  an  explanation  from  him  before 
February-  10,  and  meanwhile  begin  preparations  for  war.^  This 
report  Brissot  characterized  as  "remarkable  for  its  wisdom  and 
firmness."  But  to  the  moderate  Koch  it  seemed  most  unwise, 
and  while  not  censuring  the  war  party  directly,  he  stoutly  main- 
tained that  there  was  ground  for  believing  that  both  the  em- 
peror and  the  Elector  of  Treves  were  inclined  toward  peace, 
and  furthermore  that  they  were  disposed  to  concede  all  that 
the  French  nation  could  in  justice  demand. ^ 

Brissot,  however,  would  have  none  of  such  conciliatory  sug- 
gestions. Even  the  proposal  of  Gensonn^,  that  the  emperor  be 
asked  for  an  immediate  explanation  of  his  conduct,  seemed  to 
him  too  mild.  To  ask  for  an  explanation,  he  declared,  puts  us 
at  the  mercy  of  the  emperor.  To  demand  satisfaction  puts  him 
at  ours.  "  I  will  not  say  to  the  emperor,  with  your  committee," 
he  continued,  "'Will  you  execute  the  treaty  of  1756.^'   But  I 

1  Moniteur,  January  15,  1792. 

2  Ibid.,  January  18,  1792.  See  also  Goetz-Bernstcin,  72.  The  concessions 
of  the  emperor  and  of  the  Elector  of  Treves  certainly  gave  ample  ground 
for  Koch's  claims. 


240  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

will  say  to  him,  'You  have  yourself  violated  the  treaty  of  1756. 
We,  therefore,  have  the  right  to  regard  it  as  already  broken.' 
I  will  not  say  with  your  committee,  'Will  you  engage  not  to 
attack  France  nor  to  assail  its  independence?'  But  I  will  say, 
*  You  have  formed  a  league  against  France.  I,  therefore,  have  a 
right  to  fight  you,  and  the  attack  is  just  and  necessary.'  Either 
the  emperor  wants  the  war  or  he  does  not  want  it,"  Brissot  con- 
tinued. "  If  he  wants  it,  it  would  be  senseless  not  to  forestall 
him;  if  he  does  not  want  it,  he  would  be  senseless  not  to  fore- 
stall it  by  giving  you,  as  soon  as  possible,  the  satisfaction  which 
you  have  the  right  to  expect."  Then,  turning  to  France,  he 
demanded:  "  Can  you  fear  this  Austria  whose  people  are  already 
your  friends,  even  though  its  government  does  hate  you?  Can 
you  fear  this  cabinet  of  Vienna  which  Richelieu  caused  to 
tremble  —  Richelieu,  who  governed  only  slaves;  from  which 
Louis  XIV  took  its  most  beautiful  provinces;  to  which  the 
timid  Fleury  himself  dictated  the  laws?  Should  France,  free, 
fear  this  cabinet?"  ^ 

This  stirring  appeal  to  patriotic  pride  produced  a  strong 
impression,  but  there  were  at  least  a  few  who  were  not  to  be 
blinded  to  the  dangers  of  war,  and  the  next  day  Mathieu  Dumas 
counseled  prudence.  The  burden  of  his  plea  was  that  if  war 
were  indeed  inevitable,  it  ought  to  be  waged,  but  that  it  ought 
not,  by  rash  measures,  to  be  made  inevitable.  What  little 
impression  Dumas's  warning  may  have  produced  was  immedi- 
ately effaced  by  Vergniaud,  who  used  all  his  eloquence  to  sup- 
port Brissot.  "To  arms!  To  arms!"  he  cried;  "citizens,  free 
men,  defend  your  liberty,  assure  liberty  to  mankind.  It  seems 
to  me,"  he  declared,  in  closing  his  appeal,  "  as  though  the  spirits 
of  past  generations  were  filling  the  place,  in  order  to  adjure  you 
in  the  name  of  the  evils  which  they  suffered,  to  preserve  future 
generations  whose  destinies  are  in  your  hands.  Answer  that 
prayer:  be  for  the  future  a  new  providence;  ally  yourself  with 
the  Eternal  Justice  which  protects  the  French  people.  Then, 
while  deserving  the  title  of  benefactors  of  your  country,  you 
^  Moniteur,  January  19,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    241 
will   also   deserve    the    title    of  benefactors    of   the    human 


"  1 


race. 

These  appeals  to  patriotism  and  promises  of  glory  prevailed 
over  the  warnings  of  caution;  and  after  several  days  of  further 
discussion  Brissot,  supported  by  his  friends,-  succeeded  in  get- 
ting the  substance  of  his  motion  adopted.^  Although  the  time 
allowed  the  emperor  for  reply  was  extended  to  March  1,  nothing 
was  said  of  an  explanation,  and  the  form  of  the  communication 
was  unconciliatory  enough  to  suit  even  Brissot's  most  radical 
demands.  It  read:  "The  king  shall  be  requested  to  declare  to 
the  emperor  that,  unless  he  gives  to  the  nation,  before  March  1, 
full  and  entire  satisfaction  upon  the  points  indicated  above,  his 
silence,  as  well  as  any  dilatory  answer,  will  be  regarded  as  a 
declaration  of  war." 

Meanwhile,  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  too,  as  well  as  before  the 
Assembly,  Brissot  argued  for  war.  The  emperor,  he  asserted 
again,  was  in  a  state  of  open  hostility  toward  France,  and  it 
was  as  much  a  matter  of  safety  as  of  dignity  to  attack  him,  in 
case  he  did  not  give  them  satisfaction.  The  discussion  there 
soon  took  the  form  of  a  personal  quarrel  between  Robespierre 
and  Brissot.  Robespierre  accused  Brissot  of  showing  approval 
of  Lafayette,  and  Brissot  denied  that  he  had  had  anything  to  do 
with  Lafayette  for  months.*  After  defending  himself,  he  closed 
his  speech  with  an  expression  of  regret  that  the  differences  of 
opinion  between  patriots  should  injure  the  public  welfare." 
Whereupon  Dusaulx,  seizing  upon  the  last  phrase,  declared 
that  two  such  good  patriots  ought  to  love  and  esteem  each 
other,  and  proposed  that  they  show  their  affection  by  embrac- 
ing each  other.  At  this  Brissot  and  Robespierre  promptly  flew 
into  each  other's  arms.  This  dramatic  demonstration  naturally 
did  not  in  the  slightest  degree  change  their  respective  opinions 

1  Manileur,  January  20,  1792. 
«  See  speech  of  Isnard.  Ibid.,  January  22,  1792. 
»  Ibid.,  January  26,  1792.  See  also  Goetz-Bernstein,  84. 
*  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  in,  331-34. 

»  Trmsieme  discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot  sur  la  nicessitS  de  la  guerre,  January  20, 
1792.   Ibid.,  Ill,  333. 


242  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

in  regard  to  the  war,  and  within  a  week  Robespierre  made 
another  speech  against  it.^ 

The  struggle  Hkewise  continued  in  the  Assembly.  The  vic- 
tory which  Brissot  and  the  radical  section  of  the  diplomatic 
committee  had  gained  In  the  Assembly,  their  opponents  did 
not  propose  to  regard  as  final.  Koch,  especially,  persevered  in 
his  efforts  to  bring  the  Assembly  back  to  a  moderate  policy  and 
thus  to  avoid  war.  On  February  1,  apropos  of  a  letter  written 
by  the  Emperor  Leopold,  he  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
emperor  in  ordering  an  armament  was  only  carrying  out  the 
will  of  the  Diet,  and  that  that  measure  did  not,  or,  at  least, 
need  not  necessarily  imply  the  hostile  intentions  imputed  to 
it.  "It  is  only  just  to  the  emperor  to  say,"  Koch  declared, 
"  that,  while  the  affair  of  the  princes  owning  land  in  France  was 
discussed  in  the  Diet,  he  played  the  role  of  a  pacificator  and 
used  all  his  efforts  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  peaceable  settle- 
ment." France  had,  indeed,  no  need  to  fear  its  enemies,  Koch 
agreed,  but  it  was  wise  not  to  seek  to  increase  their  number.  ^ 

The  importance  of  Brissot's  influence  in  these  discussions  is 
evident  from  the  bitterness  of  the  attacks  made  upon  him, 
both  from  the  counter-revolutionists  and  from  the  opponents 
of  the  war.  As  an  instance  of  the  former  may  be  cited  a  carica- 
ture announced  by  the  Journal  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville,  of  Janu- 
ary 4,  1792,  which  represents  a  young  man  slipping  up  behind 
an  old  gentleman  who  was  walking  in  the  Palais  Royal  and  put- 
ting his  hand  into  his  pocket.  The  legend  beneath  read:  " Bris- 
sot en  mettant  ses  gands"  [sic],  a  decided  reflection  on  Brissot's 
political,  if  not  his  personal,  honesty.  The  most  successful  at- 
tack was  that  made  by  his  fellow  Jacobin,  Camille  Desmoulins, 
in  his  Jean  Pierre  Brissot  demasque,^  which,  appeared  in  January, 
1792.  Indeed,  this  pamphlet  is  said  to  have  made  more  stir 
than  any  other  one  pamphlet  published  during  the  Revolu- 
tion.^ Its  real  cause  was  to  be  found  in  Brissot's  growing  popu- 

*  Troisieme  discours  de  Maximilien  Robespierre  sur  la  guerre,  January  26, 
1792.   Ihid.,  Ill,  342. 

2  Moniteur,  February  2,  1792.  '  See  p.  4,  note. 

*  (Euvres  de  Desmoulins,  ed.  by  Claretie,  i,  251. 


]ME:MBER  of  the   LEGISL.\TIVE  assembly    243 

larity  as  a  leader  of  the  war  party.  Moreover,  Desmoulins  was 
at  this  time  on  intimate  terms  with  Robespierre  and  undoubt- 
edly wrote  the  pamphlet  with  the  desire  to  support  his  friend 
and  possibly  at  his  instigation.^  The  occasion  which  called  it 
forth  was  a  dispute  concerning  the  laws  against  gambling. 
Desmoulins,  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  as  a  lawyer,  had 
been  engaged  to  defend  certain  persons  accused  of  keeping  a 
gambling-house.  In  spite  of  his  efforts,  his  clients  were  con- 
victed and  sent  to  prison,  ^^'hereupon  he  placarded  Paris  with 
a  complaint  of  the  severity  of  the  laws  against  gambling.  Bris- 
sot  was  shocked  at  Desmoulins's  apologies  for  gambling  and 
promptly  denounced  him  through  the  columns  of  the  Patriate 
Frangais  as  an  immoral  person  unworthy  the  name  of  patriot.' 
To  Brissot's  denunciations  Desmoulins  replied  by  the  pam- 
phlet, Jean  Pierre  Brissot  demasquc.  Brissot  had  quite  mis- 
understood his  notice,  Desmoulins  declared.  Its  object  was  not 
to  attack  the  law  itself,  but  only  to  warn  the  public  against  a 
despotism  of  law  as  bad  as  a  despotism  of  monarchy.  After 
thus  briefly  defending  his  o-vsti  action,  Desmoulins  turned  all 
the  force  of  his  invective  against  his  adversary.  Indeed,  his 
real  purpose  was  to  assail,  and,  if  possible,  to  destroy,  Brissot's 
reputation.  His  arraignment  was  an  extremely  clever  piece  of 
work  and  showed  great  skill  in  hitting  upon  Brissot's  weakest 
and  most  vulnerable  points.  Moreover,  it  was  as  cutting  in 
innuendo  as  in  what  it  actually  said.  There  were  many  things, 
Desmoulins  began,  in  Brissot's  past,  which,  in  spite  of  his  pre- 
tense of  virtue,  would  not  bear  the  light,  and  then  he  proceeded 
to  drag  them  out.  He  declared,  for  instance,  on  the  authority 
of  Baron  Grimm,  that  Brissot  had  been  a  police  spy,  under  the 
old  regime,  in  the  service  of  M.  Lenoir  at  one  hundred  and  fifty 
francs  a  month. ^  To  acknowledge  that  Brissot  was  a  rogue  was, 

1  Desmoulins's  enmity  toward  Brissot  dated  from  May,  1791,  when  he  had 
taken  umbrage  at  the  patronizing  tone  of  an  article  in  the  Patrioic  Fran^ais. 
For  Desmoulins's  reply  see  Claretie,  Desmoulins,  178,  note. 

2  Patriote  Frangais,  January  12,  1792. 

3  This  pretended  letter  of  Grimm  to  Volney  is  from  Rivarol.  It  was  pub- 
lished 6rst  in  the  Ades  des  Apotres  and  was  afterward  reprinted  by  Barbier  and 


244  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

he  declared,  to  give  him  too  much  credit  for  cleverness.  "  I  will 
not  say  that  you  are  a  Sinon  who  slipped  in  among  the  patriots 
only  to  incite  them  to  bad  measures,  who  ranged  himself  with 
the  Jacobins  only  to  make  a  rear  attack  upon  the  strongest  and 
most  clear-sighted  defenders  of  liberty.  I  do  not  believe  that 
you  are  a  traitor;  that  role  is  too  odious,  and  you  are  not  ca- 
pable of  such  crime."  The  harm  which  Brissot  had  done,  Des- 
moulins  continued,  could  be  satisfactorily  accounted  for  only 
on  the  hypothesis  of  stupidity,  and  that  was  saying  a  good 
deal,  for  notwithstanding  the  fine  title  of  the  Patriote  Frangais, 
Brissot  alone  had  done  more  harm  to  the  cause  of  patriotism 
and  the  Revolution  than  had  all  the  aristocrats  together.  In 
his  excessive  zeal,  he  had  advocated  reforms  regardless  of  the 
expediency  of  the  moment,  he  had  preached  republicanism  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  and  finally,  he  had  stirred  up  the 
trouble  which  was  devastating  the  colonies.  The  whole  attack 
did  much  to  make  Brissot  ridiculous.  It  appears  to  have  gone 
practically  unanswered. 

The  war  question  now  entered  a  new  phase,  in  which  the 
division  in  the  diplomatic  committee  became  more  pronounced 
and  the  debates  more  violent.  On  March  1,  Delessart,  the  min- 
ister for  foreign  affairs,  made  a  report  to  the  Assembly  of  his 
correspondence  with  the  emperor's  ministers.^  The  moderate 
tone  of  this  report  displeased  the  war  party,  whereupon  they 
demanded  that  the  matter  be  referred  for  investigation  to  the 
diplomatic  committee.  The  failure  of  the  committee  to  make 
an  immediate  report  aroused  Brissot's  indignation,  and  on 
March  10  he  registered  a  formal  complaint  before  the  Assem- 
bly, charging  the  diplomatic  committee  with  being  determined 

by  Malassis  in  Ecriis  et  pamphlets  de  Rivarol.  Ulntermidiare  des  chercheurs  et 
des  curieux,  January  25,  1891,  xxiv,  61. 

^  Moniteur,  March  2,  1792.  See  also  the  Proces-verbaux  of  the  diplomatic 
committee  (A.  N.  F^,  4395).  On  February  23  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs 
had  reported  to  the  diplomatic  committee  that  the  attitude  of  foreign  powers 
toward  France  was  one  of  hesitation;  and  on  February  27  he  reported  that 
the  emperor  had  declared  that  it  had  never  been  his  intention  to  sustain 
the  Emigres. 


MEMBER  OF  TI^E  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    245 

to  let  the  Delessart  affair  drop.  It  was  too  dangerous  a  matter 
to  be  passed  over,  he  protested,  and  asked  that  time  be  reserved 
for  him  that  afternoon  that  he  might  himself  take  up  the  accu- 
sation against  Delessart.  It  does  not  appear  to  be  without  sig- 
nificance that  this  indignation  of  Brissot's  found  expression  on 
the  very  day  after  the  king  had  dismissed  Narbonne.  Al- 
though, as  has  been  pointed  out,  Brissot  was  in  accord  with 
Narbonne  in  that  they  were  both  working  for  war,^  yet  he  seems 
to  have  felt  that  Narbonne  had  stolen  his  powder,  and  in  the 
Patriate  Frangais  he  criticized  him  severely  and  frequently.  At 
the  same  time  he  infinitely  preferred  Narbonne  to  the  rest  of 
the  ministry,  who  were  under  suspicion,  and  with  good  ground, 
of  being  reactionary.  The  dismissal  of  Narbonne  thus  left  the 
Brissotins  without  support  in  the  ministry.  It  was  but  natural, 
therefore,  that  Brissot  should  seize  the  occasion  of  the  dismissal 
of  one  minister  to  help  oust  another,  and  so  make  way  for  an 
entirely  new  ministry. 

His  frank  avowal  of  difference  of  opinion  within  the  diplo- 
matic committee  on  the  Delessart  affair  provoked  a  heated  dis- 
cussion. To  the  aspersions  cast  by  Brissot  on  the  committee 
several  members  retorted  that  one  of  their  number  had  already 
been  chosen  to  make  the  report;  that  the  matter  had  been  dis- 
cussed in  at  least  four  sessions  of  the  committee;  and  further- 
more, that  Brissot  knew  that  to  be  the  case.^  This  assertion 
Brissot  met  with  violent  protests,  and  after  an  excited  debate 
it  was  decreed  that  he  be  heard  at  two  o'clock.  His  speech, 
which  was  of  great  length,  was  devoted  to  a  violent  attack  on 
the  emperor  and  a  still  more  violent  arraignment  of  Delessart.'' 
The  foreign  powers  were  hostile  in  interest  if  not  in  action,  he 
argued,  and  Delessart  had  concealed  their  real  attitude  from 
the  Assembly,  and  what  was  worse,  he  had  carried  on  negotia- 
tions with  them  in  a  very  different  spirit  from  that  intended  by 

1  Narbonne's  policy  was  more  moderate  and  his  plans  not  so  extensive. 
See  Sorel,  ii,  342.  See  also  Glagau,  181.  "Brissot  und  die  Gironde  uiinschten 
den  Krieg  aiif  jeden  Fall  und  sohald  als  thunlich;  dagegen  war  Narbonne  und 
seine  Freundsckaft  nicht  so  hitzig." 

2  Moniteur,  March  12,  1792.        »  Ibid.;  also  Proch-verhal,  March  10,  1792. 


246  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  Assembly.  He  could  not  plead  ignorance,  for  if  he  had  not 
known  how  things  stood,  he  had  signally  failed  in  his  duty.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  he  had  known  how  things  stood  and  failed  to 
report  them,  he  was  a  traitor.  The  Assembly  had  thus  wasted 
valuable  time  when  war  ought  long  since  to  have  been  declared. 
The  emperor  must  be  required  to  cease  his  machinations  in 
concert  with  the  other  powers  against  France,  and  Delessart 
must  be  impeached.  ^  Brissot's  object,  then,  was  to  establish  a 
charge  of  high  treason  against  Delessart,  based  upon  the  minis- 
ter's alleged  betrayal  of  the  interests  of  France,  as  revealed  in 
the  dispatches  between  the  Austrian  minister  for  foreign  affairs 
and  himself.  According  to  ^'on  Sybel  no  speech  was  ever  "more 
malicious,  violent, and  devoid  of  argument,"  -  for  however  much 
Delessart,  in  his  heart,  may  have  been  inclined  to  the  Austrian 
coalition,  the  notes  in  question  contained  what  the  National 
Assembly  had  itself  decreed.  On  the  other  hand,  although 
Delessart  may  have  stated  to  Austria  the  letter  of  the  decrees 
of  the  Assembly,  there  was  evidence  that  he  had  misinterpreted, 
whether  consciously  or  unconsciously,  their  spirit.  Ordinary 
prudence,  how^ever,  might  well  have  suggested  to  Delessart  the 
wisdom  of  expressing  the  demands  of  the  Assembly  in  terms  of 
more  moderation.  But  whatever  his  motive,  his  action  was 
now  branded  by  Brissot  as  a  crime  against  the  honor  and  safety 
of  the  state.^ 

So  great  was  the  effect  produced  by  Brissot's  speech  that  a 
motion  was  at  once  offered  that  Delessart  be  called  immedi- 
ately to  the  bar  to  answer  the  accusations  made  against  him. 
To  this  extreme  measure  the  more  moderate  deputies  objected, 
and  a  stormy  discussion  ensued  between  the  war  and  the  anti- 
war parties.  Several  members  tried  to  speak  at  once,  there  was 

^  It  was  not  exactly  impeachment  in  the  usual  sense  of  the  term,  for  the 
effect  of  the  action  of  the  Assembly  was  not  to  send  the  accused  before  an 
upper  house  for  trial,  but  to  send  him  to  the  high  national  court  at  Orleans. 

-  Von  Sybel,  French  Revolution,  i,  43£. 

'  Glagau,  143-46.  Goetz-Bernstein,  139,  says:  "C'est  Brissot  qui  inaugura 
avec  succcs  la  politique  de  violence,  des  procedes  atroces  et  de  ces  dinonciationa 
calomnieuses  dont  il  sera  plus  tard  victime  lui-meme." 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    247 

a  wild  scramble  for  the  tribune,  and  such  an  uproar  that  no  one 
could  be  heard.  M.  Becquet  finally  gained  the  attention  of  the 
Assembly  long  enough  to  remind  them  that  they  had  only 
recently  applauded  some  of  the  same  communications  of 
M.  Delessart  which  they  now  condenmed,  and  that  the  diplo- 
matic committee  had  not  felt  and  did  not  yet  feel  that  it  was 
ready  to  report  on  the  denunciation  of  M.  Delessart.^  To  this 
Brissot  retorted  that  all  the  members  of  the  diplomatic  commit- 
tee had  declared  their  disapproval  of  Delessart.  Hereupon 
several  of  the  members  started  up  to  protest,  and  one  of  them, 
M.  Jaucourt,  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  floor.  "  The  diplomatic 
committee,"  he  explained,  "has  often  had  reason  to  suspect 

Delessart,  but  it  had  not  been  able  to  get  proof Brissot, 

who  has  constantly  refused  to  communicate  his  accusation 
to  the  committee  — "  He  did  not  have  a  chance  to  complete 
the  sentence,  for  this  last  charge  brought  Brissot  to  his  feet 
with  a  prompt  denial,  and  the  lie  was  passed  between  them. 
Guadet,  Vergniaud,  and  Gensonne  rushed  to  the  support 
of  Brissot,  while  their  antagonists  pressed  for  adjournment. 
The  motion  for  adjournment  failed;  and,  although  the  sug- 
gestion of  calling  Delessart  to  the  bar  immediately  was 
dropped,  Brissot's  motion  for  an  impeachment  was  carried 
by  a  large  majority,  and  measures  were  ordered  for  putting 
it  in  force. ^ 

To  read  the  arguments  of  Brissot,  one  would  suppose  that  he 
was  influenced  solely  by  motives  of  patriotism  and  disinterested 
zeal;  but,  if  Etienne  Dumont  is  to  be  believed,  Brissot,  far  from 
being  actuated  by  disinterested  motives,  had,  for  the  purpose 
of  gaining  control  of  the  ministry,  descended  to  an  accusation 
made  in  bad  faith.  "I  heard  this  act,"  wrote  Dumont,  "con- 
taining seventeen  or  eighteen  counts,  read  in  the  committee. 
When  alone  with  Brissot  and  Claviere  I  made  some  observa- 

i  Moniteur,  March  12,  1792. 

2  The  Pairiote  Franqais  in  its  account  of  this  debate  is  misleading.  It  even 
makes  the  statement  that  in  all  the  course  of  the  discussion,  lasting  two  hours, 
not  one  word  was  said  in  favor  of  M.  Delessart. 


248  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

tions  on  the  subject.  I  said  the  counts  were  many  of  them  one 
and  the  same  thing;  others  so  vague  that  it  was  impossible  to 
answer  them;  that  they  were  generally  artful,  and  calculated 
to  excite  undue  prejudice  and  violent  animosity  against  the 
accused;  that  some  of  them  were  contradictory;  and  that  per- 
sonal invective  ought  to  be  carefully  avoided  in  a  criminal 
accusation,  etc.  I  have  forgotten  what  else  I  said;  but  if,  upon 
the  whole,  I  was  displeased  with  this  document,  I  was  indig- 
nant at  Brissot's  repl5^  Laughing  at  my  simplicity,  he  said  in 
a  tone  of  disgusting  levity :  '  It  is  a  necessary  party  maneuver. 
Delessart  must  positively  go  to  Orl^ns,  otherwise  the  king, 
who  is  attached  to  him,  would  replace  ^  him  in  the  administra- 
tion. We  must  steal  a  march  upon  the  Jacobins,  and  this  act 
of  impeachment  gives  us  the  merit  of  having  done  that  which 
they  would  themselves  do.  This  is  so  much  taken  from  them. 
I  know  that  the  counts  are  multiplied  without  necessity,  but 
the  object  of  this  is  to  lengthen  the  proceedings.  Garan  de 
Coulon,  who  is  at  the  head  of  the  high  national  court,  is  a  nice 
observer  of  legal  forms;  he  will  proceed  methodically  in  the 
examination  of  each  separate  count,  and  six  months  will  elapse 
before  Delessart  will  be  able  to  get  rid  of  the  affair.  I  know  that 
he  will  be  acquitted,  because  there  is  no  evidence  against  him; 
but  we  shall  have  gained  our  object  by  preventing  his  return  to 
office.*  'Good  God!'  I  exclaimed,  confounded  at  such  odious 
principles,  'are  you  so  deep  in  party  Machiavelism?  Are  you 
the  man  whom  I  once  knew  so  decided  an  enemy  to  subterfuge.'* 
Is  it  Brissot  who  now  persecutes  an  innocent  man!'  .  .  .  'But,' 
he  replied,  disconcerted,  'you  are  not  aware  of  our  situation. 
Delessart's  administration  would  destroy  us,  and  we  must  get 
rid  of  him  at  any  price.  It  is  only  a  temporary  measure.  I  know 
Garan's  integrity  and  Delessart  will  come  to  no  harm.  But  we 
must  save  the  country,  and  we  cannot  overcome  the  Austrian 
cabinet  unless  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs  be  a  man  on  whom 
we  can  depend.   Nevertheless,  I  will  attend  to  your  observa- 

1  Replace  is  evidently  used  here  to  mean  that  the  king  would  retain  Delessart 
in  his  position. 


I^IEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    249 

tions,  and  strike  out  the  terms  of  invective  to  which  you  so 

properly  object.'"  ^  .    •    .    ,     x  i 

In  considering  this  charge  against  Brissot,  it  is  to  be  taken 
into  account  that  Dumont  wrote  his  Souvenirs  in  1799,  some 
years  after  the  incident  in  question.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
minuteness  and  the  character  of  the  details  are  presumptive 
evidence  of  their  truth.  Moreover,  the  coincidence  of  the  date 
of  the  fall  of  the  Narbonne  ministry  and  the  accusations  against 
Delessart  suggests,  as  remarked  above,  an  adequate  motive  for 
intrigues  on  Brissot's  part  to  get  control  of  the  ministry  and 
gives  color  to  the  charge  of  interested  motives,  if  not  of  abso- 
lute bad  faith.  •      ,  • 

Whatever  his  motive,  Brissot  succeeded  in  carrying  his  point, 
and  on  March  U  his  draft  of  articles  of  impeachment  against 
Delessart  was  accepted.^  He  immediately  followed  it  up  by  a 
demand  that  Delessart  be  required  to  submit  to  the  diplomatic 
committee  all  his  correspondence  with  the  envoys  of  France  at 
foreign  courts.=^  Such  a  demand  shocked  the  conservatives, 
who  pointed  out  the  danger  of  making  public  negotiatmns 
regarding  delicate  international  questions  which  might  still  be 
adjusted  peaceably  if  only  they  were  kept  secret.  Moreover  it 
would  be,  they  declared,  a  violation  of  the  constitution  To 
these  warnings  Brissot  refused  to  li.sten;  and,  supported  by 
Mailhe,  who  amended  the  original  motion  so  as  to  include  the 
foreign  correspondence  from  May  1,  1789,  he  got  Ins  motion 

^^Whatever  was  the  conscious  motive  of  Brissot  in  assailing 
Delessart,  the  decree  against  the  latter  was  followed  by  an 
entire  change  of  ministry.  The  new  ministry,  m  the  appoint- 
ment of  which  Brissot  had  considerable  influence,^  included 
Dumouriez,  Roland,  and  Claviere,  and  was  afterward  known 
as  the  first  Girondin  ministry.  It  might  better  be  called  the 
Brissotin  ministry.     With   Dumouriez  in   charge  of   foreign 

1  Dumont,  Souvmirs,  378-80.  given  as  translated  in  B^ollections  of  Mira- 

fceau   310-12.  .,.   ,-.Qa  i  Ibid  *  See  p.  262. 

2  MoniteuT,  March  lo,  1792.  i-oia.  v 


250  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

aflfairs,  Brissot  and  his  friends  had  an  active  ally.  Their  com- 
mon policy  was  to  make  war  upon  Austria,  if  possible  by  an 
alliance  with  other  powers,  but  at  all  events  war  upon  Austria. 
Their  hopes  were  for  an  alliance  with  England  and  Prussia. 
Indeed,  they  had  already  secured  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mission to  negotiate  with  England.  ^  Talleyrand  was  so  obvi- 
ously the  most  capable  man  for  the  place  that  the  Girondins, 
in  spite  of  some  prejudice  against  him,  consented  to  his  appoint- 
ment, while  Chauvelin  -  was  made  nominal  head  of  the  com- 
mission and  Duroveray,^  who  was  in  special  favor  with  the 
Girondins,  was  added  to  the  legation  with  the  title  of  coun- 
sel.^ As  the  price  of  the  alliance,  Tobago  was  to  be  suggested, 
and  if  that  were  not  sufficiently  alluring,  the  lie  de  France  and 
the  lie  de  Bourbon.  It  was  even  hinted  by  the  enemies  of  the 
Girondins  that  they  would  not  stop  at  the  surrender  of  fortified 
places,  or  even  at  the  suggestion  of  a  possible  change  of  dynasty 
in  France.^  At  the  same  time  S^gur  and  a  subordinate  agent, 
Jarry,  were  dispatched  to  Berlin  on  a  like  errand.^  This  pro- 
posed alliance  Brissot  not  only  furthered  through  his  influence 
with  the  ministry,  but  also  supported  in  his  newspaper,  noting 
with  approval  Condorcet's  argument  that  France  and  Prussia 
had  in  common  hatred  of  Austria;  and  France  and  England, 
the  liberty  of  the  sea.'  Despite  their  efforts,  however,  these 
attempts  at  alliance  came  to  naught. 

1  See  p.  235. 

2  Chauvelin,  Frangois,  Marquis  de  (bora  1766,  died  1812).  Master  of  the 
wardrobe  under  Louis  XVI,  aide-de-camp  of  Rochambeau  in  the  war  of  the 
American  Revolution.  He  was  imprisoned  during  the  Terror  and  released  after 
Thermidor. 

3  Duroveray,  procureur-gSneral  at  Geneva,  was  banished  in  1782.  Later  he 
was  one  of  that  group  of  men  attached  to  Mirabeau,  who  helped  him  prepare 
his  speeches. 

*  Dumont,  Soureyiirs,  419-20. 

5  Sorel,  L' Europe  et  la  rholution  frangaise,  n,  336.  Sorel  quotes  Morris, 
Pellenc  a  Le  Marck,  Leouzon  de  Due.  See  also  Seconde  annexe  a  la  depeche  du 
Comte  de  Mercy  en  date  du  H  Janvier,  1792,  probably  from  Pellenc,  in  Feuillet 
de  Conche,  v,  124-26.  Feuillet  de  Conche's  work  is,  however,  not  to  be  implic- 
itly relied  upon.  See  also  Goetz-Bernstein,  106-07,  and  note. 

•  Goetz-Bernstein,  113-15. 

^  Patriote  Fransais,  January  22,  1792. 


IMEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATRT:  ASSEMBLY    251 

Dumouriez,  meanwhile,  proceeded  on  the  assumption  that 
war  with  Austria  was  inevitable,  and  in  his  negotiations  and  in 
his  instructions  to  the  army  did  all  m  his  power  to  make  it  so. 
On  April  18  and  19,  he  communicated  to  the  Assembly  the  dis- 
patches of  Noailles,  the  French  minister  at  the  court  of 
Vienna; '  and  on  April  20  he  induced  the  king  himself  to  come 
dowTi  to  the  Assembly  and  ask  for  a  declaration  of  war.  In 
spite  of  the  efforts  of  Becquet,  who  made  one  last  attempt  to 
open  the  eyes  of  the  Assembly  to  the  perils  into  which  they 
were  so  heedlessly  rushing,  Girondin  influence  prevailed  and 
the  decree  for  war  was  carried  with  but  seven  dissenting 

voices.* 

In  summing  up  this  war  policy  of  Brissot's  two  interestmg 
questions  present  themselves:  First,  how  far  was  it  a  Girondin 
policy?  That  is  to  say,  was  Brissot  weU  supported?  Were  the 
other  members  of  the  group  as  eager  for  war  as  he?  Second, 
what  were  their  motives  in  adopting  this  policy?  Was  it  with 
the  idea  of  overthrowing  the  king  and  establishing  a  republic? 

First,  as  to  the  policy  itself.  Has  the  belligerency  of  the 
Girondins  as  a  whole  been  exaggerated?  Some  of  their  speeches 
certainly  sounded  lielligerent  enough  —  such,  for  instance,  as 
the  oratorical  outburst  of  Isnard,  quoted  above,  when  he  de- 
clared that  the  French  people,  having  once  "cast  the  scabbard 
behind  them,  would  sheathe  the  sword  again  only  when  they 
returned  cro^^^led  with  the  laurels  of  victory,"  and  that  if,  in 
spite  of  their  strength  and  courage  they  should  be  vanquished 
in  the  defense  of  liberty,  their  enemies  would  reign  only  over 
corpses;  ^  or  Louvet's proposition  that  their  mission  was  to  sur- 
round the  castle  with  bayonets  and  place  the  declaration  of 
rights  in  the  cottage."  The  point  is  to  know  whether,  when  it 
came  to  tangible  measures,  they  were  as  ready  to  take  drastic 
action.  The  evidence  would  seem  to  show  that  they  were. 
Isnard  certainly  was  eager  enough  in  his  support  of  Brissot's 
demand  that  the  foreign  princes  be  called  to  account  for  harbor- 

1  MonUeur,  April  20,  1792.  '  Ibid.,  April  22,  1792. 

3  See  p.  230.  *  See  p.  235. 


252  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

ing  the  emigres.  He  would  not  only  demand  an  explanation, 
but  would  proceed  to  make  war  upon  the  emigres,  even  though 
they  themselves  had  no  intention  of  attacking  France.  That 
their  gathering  on  the  border  was  a  drain  upon  the  treasury 
and  a  menace  to  the  peace  of  the  country  was  enough  to  pro- 
voke hostilities.  1  On  the  5th  of  January  he  again  argued  vehe- 
mently for  war,  declaring  that  it  was  indispensable;  -  and  on  the 
20th  of  January  he  approved  Brissot's  demand  for  an  immedi- 
ate response  from  the  emperor,  but  would  go  even  further  and 
require  the  emperor  to  withdraw  his  troops  and  to  reduce  their 
numbers  in  Belgium  to  that  number  agreed  on  in  the  treaty 
arrangements. 3  Louvet,  too,  was  eager  for  rigorous  measures 
against  the  emigres,  while  Vergniaud,  like  Isnard,  would  go 
even  beyond  Brissot.  In  the  first  place,  he  was  for  more  severe 
measures  than  Brissot  in  regard  to  the  emigres  in  general,  and 
when  it  concerned  the  action  to  be  taken  with  regard  to  the 
emperor,  he  not  only  upheld  Brissot's  demand  for  an  immediate 
response  in  opposition  to  the  milder  requests  of  the  committee, 
but  had  the  audacity  to  suggest  that  the  emperor  should 
be  requested  to  forbid  the  white  cockade  in  his  states,  and 
extradite  such  of  the  emigres  as  were  fugitives  from  jus- 
tice.^ Even  Brissot,  in  his  wildest  moments,  hardly  went  as 
far  as  this. 

Gensonn^  and  Guadet  also  constantly  supported  Brissot, 
though  they  were  more  moderate  than  he.  Guadet,  for  exam- 
ple, when  in  December  it  was  a  question  of  taking  immediate 
action  against  the  Emigres,  suggested  that  the  decree  be  put  off, 
since  the  former  decree  against  the  emigres  gave  them  till  Jan- 
uary 1  to  cease  their  hostile  manifestation;  and  Gensonnd, 
while  arguing  that  all  haste  be  made  in  preparing  for  war,  at 
the  same  time  urged  as  a  motive  that  this  was  the  best  way  to 
secure  peace. ^  In  view  also  of  the  speeches  in  favor  of  war  by 

'  Moniteur,  December  1,  1791.  ^  Ibid.,  January  6,  1792. 

^  Ibid.,  January  22,  1792.  *  Ibid.,  January  20,  1792. 

6  Ibid.,  December  28,  1791. 


lilEMBER  OF  THE   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    253 

Manuel/  Roederer,-  Ban  gal, ^  and  Cloots,^  it  cannot  be  asserted 
that  there  was  any  lack  of  beUigerency  among  the  Girondins 
and  Girondin  sympathizers,  though  it  is  perhaps  safe  to  say 
that  —  with  the  exception  of  Vergniaud,  Louvet,  Isuard,  and 
Brissot  himself  —  their  emphasis  was  not  so  much  on  war  alone, 
as  on  war  as  a  means  of  peace. 

This  matter  of  motive  suggests  the  second  question:  Did  the 
Girondins  hope  by  means  of  the  war  to  overthrow  the  king  and 
to  establish  a  republic?  The  question  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
answer,  for  after  the  republic  was  once  estabHshed,  they  were 
naturally  anxious,  in  the  face  of  suspicion  of  royalism,  to  date 
their  republicanism  as  far  back  as  they  possibly  could,  and  to 
claim  that  the  desire  to  overthrow  the  monarchy  and  to  estab- 
lish a  republic  had  long  been  the  impelling  motive  of  their 
policy.  An  assertion  of  Brissot's,  for  example,  that  without  the 
war  France  would  not  be  a  republic,^  appears  at  first  sight  to  be 
significant,  but  this  was  made  September  22,  1792,  after  the 
war  was  declared  and  the  republic  established,  and  does  not 
necessarily  imply  that  when  he  urged  the  war  it  was  with  the 
direct  intention  of  overthrowing  the  monarchy.  What  is  of 
importance  is  whether  the  arguments  which  he  and  the  other 
Girondins  advanced  before  the  war  was  declared,  were  at  all  of 
this  character. 

*  Manuel,  Pierre  Louis  (born  1751).  He  was  a  member  of  the  municipality, 
an  orator  of  the  Jacobins,  an  administrator  of  police,  procureur  of  the  Commune, 
and  member  of  the  Convention.   He  was  guillotined  in  1793. 

^  Roederer,  Le  Comte  Pierre  Louis.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  and  procureur  syndic  of  the  Department  of  the  Seine.  On  the  20th 
of  June,  I79i,  he  warned  the  Assembly  of  the  approach  of  the  mob,  and  on  the 
10th  of  August  protected  the  royal  family.  After  the  31st  of  May,  1793,  he 
retired,  only  to  appear  after  Thermidor.   He  died  in  1835. 

»  Seep.  in. 

*  Cloots,  Jean  Baptiste  du  Val-de-Grace,  called  Anacharsis.  He  was  bom 
in  1755  near  Cleves,  but  made  France  his  adopted  country.  Before  1789  he 
journeyed  about  Europe  proclaiming  philanthropic  principles  and  called  him- 
self the  "orator  of  the  human  race."  Made  a  French  citizen  by  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  he  was  elected  to  the  Convention,  where  he  continued  to  preach  his 
propaganda  of  a  universal  republic.  He  was  guillotined  with  the  Hebartists  in 
1794. 

6  Patriote  Franqais,  September  22,  1792. 


254  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

They  were  certainly  accused  at  this  time  of  republicanism, 
and  considering  the  connection  of  Brissot,  the  leader  of  the  war 
party,  with  the  republican  movement  of  the  summer  before, 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  This  accusation  Brissot  denied,  and 
in  his  speech  before  the  Jacobins  on  December  16  declared  that 
republicanism  was  only  a  chimera  brought  out  by  the  moder- 
ates to  frighten  worthy  patriots,  while  the  Patriote  Frangais  of 
December  6  published  an  article  by  Condorcet,  which  asserted 
that  such  calumnies  were  reiterated  by  newspapers  in  the  pay 
of  the  ministers.  At  the  same  time,  Condorcet  plainly  showed 
at  least  republican  tendencies,  "A  true  republican,"  he  de- 
clared, "  knew  how  to  await  under  a  constitutional  monarchy 
the  slow  and  sure  effects  of  reason."  *'  Every  one  who  reflects," 
asserted  a  third  member  of  the  war  faction,  "knows  that  it  is 
by  no  means  to  establish  in  all  completeness  the  old  regime  nor 
on  the  other  hand  to  establish  a  republican  government  that 
we  are  ready  to  fight."  It  is  simply  a  question  whether  consti- 
tutional equality  shall  or  shall  not  be  established  in  France.  ^ 

This,  indeed,  was  the  motive  most  frequently  adduced  for  the 
war  —  that  France  might  preserve  the  liberty  already  won.^ 
What  business,  it  was  asked,  had  the  emperor  to  interfere  in 
the  internal  affairs  of  France?  ^  Such  interference  was  not  to  be 
tolerated.  The  country  must  rise  in  self-defense.*  "  It  is  neces- 
sary, then,"  declared  Brissot  on  January  17,  1792,  "to  go 
straight  to  the  point  and  say  to  the  emperor:  'It  is  our  consti- 
tution which  you  regard  with  horror,  it  is  this  which  you  want 
to  destroy.  Either  give  up  the  idea  or  prepare  for  war.'"  ^  It 
is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  it  was  the  constitution  as 
embodying  opposition  to  the  old  regime,  rather  than  as  a  per- 
fect and  final  form  of  government,  that  Brissot  was  ready  to 
defend  so  valiantly.  For,  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  working 
with  all  his  might  to  stir  up  foreign  war  in  defense  of  the  con- 
stitution, he  was  vigorously  criticizing  the  party  within  the 

1  Moniteur,  January  6,  1792.  '  Ibid.,  December  30,  1791. 

*  Ibid.,  January  19,  1792.  *  Patriote  Franqais,  December  28,  1791. 

8  Moniteur,  January  19,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    255 

country  which  stood  for  "the  constitution,  the  whole  constitu- 
tion, and  nothing  but  the  constitution."  ^  He  was  not  prepared, 
however,  to  go  further  and  actually  assail  it  as  a  whole. 

What  the  Girondins  did  do  was  to  assail  the  working  of  the 
constitution,  as  far  as  it  concerned  the  executive  power,  and  to 
pursue  with  constancy  and  determination  the  king's  ministers. 
"The  organization  of  the  executive  powder,"  declared  an  article 
in  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  November  14,  1701,  "is  the  cause 
of  all  the  disorders  which  affect  the  realm.  The  audacity  of 
the  seditious  priests,  the  inertia  of  the  courts,  the  apathy  of  the 
administrative  corps,  the  insolent  pretensions  of  the  colonists, 
the  malevolence  of  foreign  powers,  the  twitchings,  the  convul- 
sions, the  agonies  of  the  body  politic,  all  these  disasters  are  the 
necessary'  result  of  the  criminal  struggle  of  the  executive  power 
against  the  general  will."  -  And  on  March  6,  179t>,  Isnard 
declared  that  the  powerlessness  of  the  executive  was  sim[)ly  the 
result  of  its  ill-will,  and  demanded  an  inquiry  as  to  whether 
the  ministers  had  done  all  that  they  ought  to  have  done,  all 
that  they  could  have  done,  for  the  execution  of  the  law.^ 

Nor  did  the  Girondins  stop  with  the  king's  ministers.  Hav- 
ing attacked  them,  they  proceeded  with  all  their  might  to  dis- 
credit the  king  himself.  Brissot  had  declared,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, apropos  of  Ixjuis's  note  to  the  Elector  of  Treves,  that 
the  king  did  not  understand  his  constitutional  position  when  he 
wrote  that  he  would  regard  him  as  an  enemy,  instead  of  saying 
that  the  nation  would  so  regard  him.^  Brissot's  severe  denun- 
ciation of  the  king  for  having  vetoed  the  decree  against  the 
emigres  will  also  be  remembered.^  But  not  only  had  the  king 
opposed  the  formal  decree  against  the  emigres,  declared  the 
Girondins,  he  was  actually  protecting  them,  he  had  not  taken 
prompt  steps  against  their  assembled  hordes,  and  when  he  had 
acted  he  had  not  been  in  earnest;  moreover,  the  emigres  knew 
it  and  were  proceeding  on  the  assumption  that  they  might  go 
to  any  length,  assured  that  whatever  steps  the  nation  might 

*  Patriote  Frangais,  December  28,  1791.         ^  Jfyid^^  November  14,  1791. 
»  Ibid.,  March  7.  1792.  *  See  p.  236.  »  See  p.  230. 


^6  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

take  against  them  would  be  nullified  by  the  king.^  The  center 
of  the  counter-revolution  was  obviously  among  these  emigre 
gatherings  on  the  frontier,  and  the  way  to  strike  down  the 
counter-revolution  at  a  single  blow  was  to  make  war  on  the 
emigres.^  The  king  might  say  that  he  wanted  war,  but  such 
assertions  were  all  pretense,'  But  whether  he  wanted  it  or  not 
it  should  be  declared.  \Yhereat  it  was  naturally  retorted  that 
there  was  certainly  great  risk  in  making  war  mider  a  king  who 
was  really  not  in  sympathy  with  it,  and  the  danger  was  sug- 
gested that  he  might  thus  secure  the  opportunity  of  winning 
the  army  to  his  cause.  At  this  danger  Brissot  scouted.  There 
was  not  the  slightest  risk,  he  asserted,  that  a  successful  war 
would  see  the  king  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army  seizing  his 
ancient  crown.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  Brissot's 
assurance  that  such  a  thing  could  not  happen  was  based,  not 
on  the  virtue  of  the  king,  but  on  the  incorruptibility  of  the 
soldiers.  In  fact,  Brissot  declared  on  one  occasion  that  treason 
was  really  to  be  desired  as  a  means  of  getting  rid  of  the  poison.^ 
The  above  remark  was  not  made  in  immediate  connection  with 
the  king,  but  as  Brissot  had  in  previous  utterances  declared  him 
to  be  hand  in  glove  with  the  emigres,  and  the  center  of  the 
counter-revolution,  he  evidently  believed  him  capable  of  trea- 
son. And  when  war  was  finally  declared,  he  asserted  that  it 
alone  would  show  who  were  the  friends  and  who  were  the  ene- 
mies of  the  Revolution,  strengthen  liberty,  and  unmask  the 
perfidy  of  the  court. ^ 

The  above  criticism  does  not  prove  a  deliberate  plan  to  over- 
throw monarchy  and  establish  a  republic;  it  does  show,  how- 
ever, that  the  Girondins  did  not  hesitate  before  the  possibility 
of  such  a  result;  that  they  had  no  abiding  devotion  to  the 
constitution;  and  that  if  they  were  not  ready  to  overthrow 
the  monarchy,  they  were  at  least  willing  to  go  to  the  farthest 

1  Pairiote  FrariQais,  November  16  and  21, 1791;  January  3,  1792;  Moniteur, 
December  30,  1791. 

-  Pairiote  Frangais,  December  20,  1791. 

^  Speech  of  Brissot  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  January  20,  1792. 

*  Brissot's  speech  of  December  30,  1791.  *  Dumas,  Souvenirs,  414 


IVIEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    257 

extent  in  discrediting  it.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that  after  getting 
control  of  the  ministr5%  they  had  less  to  say  about  the  inef- 
ficiency of  the  executive,  though  this  may  be  accounted  for  in 
part  by  the  fact  that  they  were  not  making  so  many  speeches, 
but  devoting  themselves  more  to  active  preparation  for  war. 

That  Brissot  himself  did  not  take  an  active  part  in  the  final 
debate  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  the  war  was  in  a  large  meas- 
ure his  work.  He  had  wTitten  and  argued  and  toiled  in  its  be- 
half, and  he  could  justly  look  upon  it  as  the  fulfillment  of  his 
efforts  as  leader  of  the  war  party.  It  was  to  him  "a  war  of  the 
human  race  against  its  oppressors  .  .  .  the  most  just,  the  most 
glorious  war  that  had  ever  been  known."  ^  He  little  dreamed 
that  he  had  precipitated  a  conflict  that  was  to  drench  all  Eu- 
rope with  blood  and  leave  France  with  narrowed  boundaries 
and  exhausted  in  strength  and  resources.  In  one  sense  it  was, 
as  he  regarded  it,  the  crowning  point  of  his  diplomatic  career, 
but  in  its  advocacy  he  had  shown  himself,  both  as  an  editor 
and  as  a  legislator,  impractical,  extreme,  and  undiplomatic, 
and  had  helped  to  bring  about  conditions  which  were  later  to 
cause  his  own  downfall. 

1  Patriate  FranQau,  April  il,  1792.  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  411,  says:  "Brissot 
Hail  si  viohitt  que  jc  lui  ai  entendu  proposer  de  d^guiser  quelqucs  soUlais  en  hou- 
lans  autriehiens,  et  de  leur  faire  faire  une  attaquc  nocturne  sur  quelques  villages 
jranqais;  CL  ceite  nourelle,  on  aurait  fait  une  motion  h  l Assemble  legislative,  et  on 
aurait  emporti  dun  dccret  de  gmrre  Veniliouaiasme.  Sije  nen  avals  pas  eti  temoin, 
je  ne  le  croirais  pas." 


CHAPTER  X 

BRISSOT  AS  A   MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY 

Part  H 

His  Interests  and  Influence 

The  period  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  is  notable  in  the 
history  of  the  French  Revolution  for  two  things :  the  beginning 
of  a  momentous  foreign  war  and  for  what  was  in  a  large  part 
the  outcome  of  that  war  —  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy. 
The  work,  however,  which  the  Assembly  was  called  into  being 
to  do,  was  simply  to  legislate  for  France,  not  to  change  its  gov- 
ernment. Indeed,  any  constitutional  change  whatever  was 
declared  to  be  strictly  outside  its  province.  But  despite  the 
formal  agreement  of  all  parties  to  accept  the  constitution,  there 
were  many  who,  while  throwing  themselves  heartily  into  the 
legislative  work  of  the  Assembly,  were  not  at  all  disposed  to 
regard  the  constitutional  monarchy  as  final,  and  who  came 
to  work  more  or  less  consistently  for  its  overthrow,  and  for  the 
establishment  of  a  democratic  republic.  Prominent  among  this 
number  was  Brissot,  A  study,  then,  of  his  actix-ities  during  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  aside  from  his  leadership  of  the  war 
party,  involves  a  consideration  of  his  participation  in  the  con- 
stitutional legislation  of  the  Assembly  and  also  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  monarchy.  The  Assembly  had  no  sooner  met  than 
it  was  called  upon  to  wrestle  vnih  knotty  problems.  Negroes 
and  mulattoes  were  in  revolt,  the  finances  were  disordered,  and 
large  numbers  of  priests  were  in  a  state  of  defiance  and  rebel- 
lion. The  treatment  of  the  negroes  and  mulattoes,  together 
with  the  heated  controversy  concerning  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Legislative  Assembly  over  the  colonies,  has  already  been  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  Brissot's  work  as  a  humanitarian. 
It  remains  to  consider  his  attitude  toward  the  other  problems. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE   ASSEMBLY    i>o9 

The  financial  problem,  unlike  the  colonial  question,  was 
clearly  within  the  province  of  the  Assembly,  and  the  existing 
situation  demanded  that  immediate  attention  be  given  to  it. 
The  assignats  already  issued  had  depreciated  in  value,  the 
sale  of  church  lands  had  not  produced  the  amount  confidently 
expected,  and  the  government  was  in  dire  straits  for  the  where- 
withal to  pay  its  debts  and  even  to  carrv'  on  the  administration. 
Another  issue  of  assignats  was  therefore  proposed.   This  pro- 
position Brissot  did  not  support  with  his  former  zeal,  and  the 
Patriote  Franqais,  while  protesting  belief  in  the  principle  in- 
volved, urged  that  it  be  not  carried  too  far  in  practice.    On 
November  8,  Brissot  made  a  speech  before  the  National  As- 
sembly, of  note  on  account  both  of  its  growing  spirit  of  caution 
and  of  its  democratic  tendency.  It  would  be  most  imprudent, 
he  declared,  for  the  government  to  plunge  into  further  issues 
before  ascertaining,  on  the  one  hand,  the  amount  of  the  existing 
debt,  and  on  the  other,  the  value  of  the  national  property,  on 
the  security  of  which  the  assignats  were  issued.    The  govern- 
ment, he  continued,  should  take  into  consideration  the  needs  of 
different  classes  of  its  creditors,  and  give  the  preference  to  the 
claims  arising  from  the  smaller  and  less  important  of  the  sup- 
pressed offices  and  pri\nleges,  such  as  would  come  in  general 
from  the  artisan  class.  As  a  further  means  of  aiding  the  poor, 
he  asked  that  the  new  issue  include  assignats  of  small  denom- 
inations. ^    In  the  latter  contention  he  was  successful,  as  the 
value  of  the  small  assignats  to  the  rich  as  well  as  to  the  poor 
was  generally  evident,  but  his  plan  for  the  temporary  suspen- 
sion of  all  payments  over  the  sum  of  three  thousand  francs  was 

voted  do^^^l.^ 

While  struggling  ^-ith  financial  difficulties,  the  Assembly  had 
also  to  deal  with  the  problem  of  the  non-juring  priests.  This 
refusal  to  take  the  oath  to  the  ci\^  constitution  was  regarded 

1  Discours  sur  la  nccessUe  de  su^pendre  momeniancment  le  paiement  des  liqui- 
dations au-desms  de  3,000  L,  avant  d'emettre  de  nouveaux  assignats  et  sur  les 
finances  en  general,  prononce  &  VAssemblee  naiionale  dans  la  seance  du  2^.  no- 

vembre.  1791. 

2  See  Gomel,  Histmre  financiere  de  la  Ligislative,  i,  G6-C7. 


260  BRISSOT  DE  WAEVILLE 

as  seditious,  and  a  law  was  therefore  proposed,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  to  throw  upon  them  the  responsibility  for  any  dis- 
turbance arising  from  the  discussion  of  religious  questions.  In 
the  debates  on  this  law,  Brissot  took  an  active  and  able  part. 
The  larger  question  of  liberty  of  the  press  was  involved,  he 
maintained,  and  there  was  grave  danger  that  in  trying  to  re- 
strain the  seditious  priests,  they  restrict  freedom  in  general.  To 
denounce,  for  instance,  a  priest  for  having  "disturbed  the  pub- 
lic order  "  was  to  check  legitimate  criticism  and  to  open  the  way 
to  serious  limitations  of  freedom.  Only  for  ha\H[ng  expressly 
provoked  disobedience  to  the  laws  could  a  man  be  justly  held 
accountable.  Brissot  also  objected  to  the  further  provision, 
that,  if  the  actions,  speeches,  or  writings  of  an  ecclesiastic  gave 
rise  to  murder,  fire,  or  pillage,  he  could  be  prosecuted.  Such 
prosecution  was  justified,  he  contended,  only  if  an  immediate 
connection  could  be  traced.  In  taking  this  stand,  Brissot  ap- 
pears to  have  been  moved  only  by  a  desire  for  legal  justice,  not 
by  any  sympathy  for  the  non-juring  priests,  as  such.  The 
Patriate  Frangais  was  most  rigorous  in  its  attitude  toward  them, 
and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  Brissot's  newspaper, 
although  for  the  time  being  not  under  his  immediate  direction, 
continued  to  represent  his  views. 

Thus,  on  November  15,  the  Patriote  Franqais  commended 
Isnard's  argument  for  the  banishment  of  the  priests  and  on  the 
30th  of  November  heartily  approved  of  the  decree  just  passed, 
compelling  the  priests  to  take  the  oath  immediately  or  run  the 
risk  of  expulsion  from  the  department  in  which  they  were 
resident.  In  taking  this  stand  the  paper  was  arguing  on  the 
assumption  that  the  one  important  thing  was  to  secure  peace 
to  the  state  and  success  to  the  Revolution,  and  that  the  reli- 
gious scruples  of  the  non-juring  priests  were  only  a  pretext  un- 
worthy of  consideration.  "The  troubles  to  which  the  seditious 
priests  made  France  a  prey,"  the  Patriote  Franqais  declared, 
"are  not  religious  troubles,  they  are  civil  dissensions.  It  is 
not  a  question  of  quarreling  over  dogma  or  even  theologj'.  .  .  . 
We  have  adopted  unity  of  government;  they  (the  non-juring 


I^IEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATI\T:  ASSEMBLY    261 

priests)  admit  the  existence  of  two  authorities,  we  detest  that 
division;  we  recognize  the  sovereignty  of  the  people;  they 
prostrate  themselves  before  a  higher  sovereign."  ^  But  what- 
ever the  legislators  and  the  press  might  say  to  the  contrary% 
it  wa^  a  matter  both  of  rehgion  and  theology,  and  the  demand 
of  allegiance  to  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy  was  a  blow 
at  the  heart  of  the  orthodox  Catholic  and  a  riding  rough-shod 
over  the  cherished  beliefs  of  centuries. 

Besides  his  direct  influence  as  a  member  of  the  Assembly, 
Brissot  soon  had  the  opportunity  to  exercise  an  indirect,  but 
none  the  less  important,  influence  on  the  progress  of  the  Rev- 
olution through  the  Girondin  ministry.  As  has  been  seen,  he, 
in  company  with  the  other  Girondins,  had  disapproved  most 
cordially  of  Narbonne,  not  so  much  because  of  his  war  policy 
as  because  he  had  stolen  their  powder;  and,  by  their  constant 
criticism  of  his  ministry,  in  which  the  Patriate  Fran^ais  was 
especially  outspoken,  had  hastened  his  downfall.  Brissot 's 
precipitate  attack  on  Delessart  had  further  cleared  the  way, 
and,  moreover,  its  success  revealed  the  extent  of  the  Girondin 
influence.  As  Dumont  says,  they  were  considered  all  powerful,^ 
and  the  king,  perhaps  because  he  feared  their  power  and  saw 
no  other  way  to  help  himself,  called  them  to  office.^ 

Not  only  in  bringing  about  the  appointment  of  a  new  minis- 
try, but  also  in  determining  its  personnel  the  leading  Girondins 
had  considerable  influence,  for  the  king,  having  called  De  Graves 
to  Narbonne's  place  as  minister  of  war,  invited  him  to  complete 
the  ministry'  and  De  Graves  turned  to  the  party  for  advice.* 
Advice  was  precisely  what  they  were  delighted  to  give,  and 
there  was  much  running  about  and  excited  consultation.  They 
were  accustomed  to  meet  frequently  at  the  apartments  of 
Vergniaud  at  political  dinners,  and  it  was  there  that  the  dis- 

1  Pafrioie  Franqais,  December  28,  1791. 

2  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  381. 

3  "  About  the  time  that  the  king  began  to  negotiate  with  the  leaders  of  the 
Gironde  an  acute  observer  noticed  that  Brissot's  Patriote  FrariQais  adopted 
a  more  kindly  tone  in  speaking  of  the  queen."   Clapham,  181. 

.*  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  381. 


262  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

cussion  centered.  In  all  of  this  discussion  Brissot  was  especially 
active.  That  his  influence  was  regarded  as  important  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  his  advice  was  sought  directly  by  De  Graves 
and  that  to  him  was  attributed  Dumouriez's  appointment.^  It 
is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  this  assertion  was  made  a  year 
later  at  the  height  of  the  attack  of  the  Mountain  on  the  Giron- 
dins,  when  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  former  to  make  the 
Girondins  responsible  for  Dumouriez's  treason.  Under  such 
circumstances,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Brissot  denied 
that  he  had  had  any  part  in  making  Dumouriez  minister.  The 
fact  remains,  however,  that  they  were  closely  in  sympathy,  on 
account  of  their  common  enthusiasm  for  war  with  Austria,  and 
that  Brissot  in  the  Patriote  Frangais  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of 
his  appointment.  A  special  obligation  existed  on  Brissot's  part 
toward  Dumouriez  if  it  is  true,  as  reported,  that  it  was  on  in- 
formation furnished  by  Dumouriez  that  Brissot  founded  his 
report  against  Delessart.^ 

\Miatever  may  be  Brissot's  share  of  responsibility  for  Du- 
mouriez, it  is  significant  that  two  at  least  of  the  new  ministers 
were  Brissot's  close  personal  friends  —  Cla\nere  and  Roland. 
His  long-standing  friendship  \\ath  Claviere,  their  collaboration 
with  Mirabeau,  their  association  in  the  production  of  works  on 
America,  and  in  the  editorship  of  the  Chronique  du  Mois,  had 
given  Brissot  a  high  idea  of  the  talents  of  Claviere  and  espe- 
cially of  his  ability  as  a  financier,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  he 
used  all  his  influence  in  his  behalf.^  He  had  also  been  on  terms 
of  intimacy  with  the  Rolands  and  was  one  of  the  most  frequent 
visitors  at  Madame  Roland's  salon.  It  does  not  appear,  how- 
ever, that  the  first  mention  of  Roland  for  minister  of  the  interior 
was  due  to  Brissot.  It  was  suggested  at  one  of  the  dinners  at 
Vergniaud's  by  some  one  else  —  Madame  Roland  herself  says 

1  Moniteur,  April  6,  1793. 

^  Masson,  Le  Depariement  des  affaires  Strangeres,  1-16. 

*  On  the  22d  of  March,  1792,  before  the  list  of  ministers  was  announced, 
Brissot  took  occasion  in  the  Patriote  Franqais  to  refer  to  Clax'iere  as  a  person 
already  talked  of  for  the  position  of  minister  of  finance,  and  two  days  later 
loudly  praised  his  nomination. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    2C3 

she  does  not  know  by  whom.  ^  But  whoever  made  the  first  sugges- 
tion, it  was  Brissot  who  took  up  the  matter  with  enthusiasm 
and  who,  on  the  21st  of  March,  presented  himself  at  the  home 
of  the  Rolands  with  a  definite  proposition.  It  is  perhaps  signi- 
ficant of  the  influence  of  Madame  Roland  that  Brissot  made  his 
proposition  to  her  rather  than  to  Monsieur  Roland  himself. 
At  all  events  Madame  Roland  re]>lied,  with  becoming  modesty, 
that  while  Roland  appreciated  the  difficulties  and  even  the 
dangers  of  the  task,  he  felt  that  his  zeal  was  equal  to  the  re- 
sponsibility, and  that  at  least  they  would  consider  the  matter. 
The  next  day  Roland  definitely  accepted  the  position  of  min- 
ister of  the  interior.'  This  position,  according  to  Brissot,  was 
especially  delicate  and  difiicult;  it  was,  therefore,  a  source  of 
satisfaction  to  the  friends  of  liberty  to  see  it  confided  to  firm 
and  pure  hands. ^  Brissot 's  confidence  was  not  altogether 
shared  by  the  critics  of  the  Girondins,  especially  as  Roland  was 
a  comparatively  unknown  man  and  Brissot's  influence  over 
him  was  evidently  feared.  Brissot  himself,  in  announcing  the 
new  ministry  in  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  the  20th  of  November, 
had  felt  obliged  to  explain  who  Roland  was. 

Not  content  with  having  established  their  o^\-n  adherents  in 
the  ministry,  the  Girondins  wanted  to  oust  De  Graves.  Their 
choice  of  a  substitute,  according  to  Dumont,  who  was  con- 
sulted by  Brissot  on  the  subject,  was  Du  Chastellet.  Such  a 
choice,  as  Dumont  points  out,  showed  a  supreme  lack  of  deli- 
cacy, as  it  involved  placing  among  the  king's  responsible  ad- 
visers a  man  who  had  signed  the  first  proclamation  in  favor  of 
a  republic.^  The  unfitness  of  Du  Chastellet  seems  to  have  been 
generally  recognized  and  the  plan  fell  through. 

>  Madame  Roland,  Memoires,  i,  67,  243.  See  also  Perroud  in  LOires  de 
Madame  Roland,  ii,  398. 

2  Madame  Roland,  MSmmres,  i,  67-68. 

'  "Brissot  observa  que  le  department  de  Vinthieur  itait  le  plus  dSlicat  ei  le 
plus  charge  dans  les  circonstances  et  que  c'etait  un  repos  d'esprit  pour  les  amis 
de  la  liberie  que  de  le  voir  confie  cL  dea  mains  firmes  et  pures"  Madame  Roland, 
Memoires,  i,  23] . 

*  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  385. 


264  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Its  failure  did  not  deter  Brissot,  however,  from  attempting 
to  exercise  control  over  the  affairs  of  the  new  ministry.  He 
seems  first  to  have  undertaken  to  assist  Dumouriez  in  reform- 
ing the  foreign  oflSce,  and  to  have  egged  him  on  to  the  dismis- 
sal of  several  of  the  heads  of  departments .  One  of  the  dismissed 
men,  Hennin,  afterward  wrote  with  great  bitterness  of  Brissot's 
influence  in  this  matter,  charging  that  it  was  due  to  him  that 
a  commission  was  appointed  to  examine  their  papers  with  the 
hope  of  finding  something  reprehensible;  and  that  Brissot  was 
moved  thereto,  not  by  zeal  for  official  purity,  but  by  an  unholy 
desire  to  get  vacant  places  at  his  disposal.  ^  He  had  a  part, 
moreover,  as  has  been  seen,  in  the  appointment  of  the  special 
embassy,  sent  to  secure  English  alliance  —  being  responsible 
especially  for  getting  Duroveray  attached  to  the  embassy.^  In 
one  instance,  at  least,  his  zeal  outran  his  discretion,  when  he 
tried  to  persuade  Dumouriez  to  give  a  diplomatic  appointment 
to  Robert.  Robert,  Brissot  urged,  was  a  true  friend  of  the 
Revolution,  and  an  ardent  patriot.  To  this  Dumouriez  re- 
plied that  Robert  was  unsuited  for  the  position,  because  of  lack 
of  dignity  in  personal  appearance.  To  use  Dumouriez's  own 
language,  he  was  as  broad  as  he  was  high,  and  he  (Dumouriez) 
would  not  disgrace  himself  by  sending  anywhere  such  a  little 
runt.  To  this  objection  Brissot  could  only  reiterate  that 
"Robert  had  an  excellent  honest  heart,''  but  when  Dumouriez 
told  him  that  what  Robert  aimed  at  was  the  ambassadorship 
to  Constantinople,  he  owned  that  he  had  not  realized  the  extent 
of  Robert's  pretensions  and  admitted  that  Dumouriez  was 
right  in  his  refusal.  Through  this  incident  Brissot  learned  some- 
thing of  the  trials  of  a  man  thought  to  possess  influence,  for  he 
had  to  face  an  attack  from  Robert,  who  charged  him  ^\dth  bad 
faith  in  failing  to  keep  a  promise  of  assistance.  ^ 

In  another  important  instance  Brissot  and  his  friends  at- 

^  Masson,  Le  Departement  des  affaires  tlrangeres  pendant  la  rerolution,  148, 
where  the  complaint  of  Hennin  to  the  ministry  dated  6th  Thermidor,  year  V, 
is  quoted.  The  length  of  time  that  elapsed  may  affect  the  validity  of  the 
testimony. 

2  See  pp.  235,  250.  »  Madame  Roland,  Mhnoires,  ii,  176-78. 


JVIEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY  265 

tempted  to  dictate  to  Dumouriez.  This  was  in  demanding  the 
dismissal  of  Bonne-Carrere,  whom  Dumouriez  had  estabUshed 
as  chief  director  in  the  department  of  foreign  affairs.  Reports 
had  been  spread  abroad  concerning  a  large  sum  of  money,  of 
which  Bonne-Carrere  was  in  possession,  and  which  pointed  to 
corruption  in  his  office.  On  the  basis  of  this  report  Gensonne, 
Roland,  and  Brissot  tried  to  induce  Dumouriez  to  dismiss 
Bonne-Carrere,  on  the  ground  that  the  entire  ministry'  would 
suffer  in  reputation.  But  Dumouriez  was  obstinate,  and  not 
only  refused,  but  also  seemed  to  have  taken  lasting  offense  at 
such  interference.^ 

0\'er  Roland  the  Girondin  influence  was  greater  and  more 
lasting.  In  the  case  of  Brissot,  indeed,  it  seems  to  have  been 
not  mere  influence  but  actual  dictation.  That  he  was  recog- 
nized as  a  ])Ower  behind  the  ministrv'  as  a  whole,  there  is  no 
doubt.  Peltier  says  Brissot  reigned  for  three  months,-  and  ac- 
cording to  Dumont  he  enjoyed  so  great  an  influence  that  it 
turned  his  head;  "he  no  longer  spoke  but  in  oracles,  and  could 
not  bear  contradiction."  ' 

The  responsibility  which  Brissot  felt  for  the  government, 
especially  after  the  war  had  begun,  also  affected  his  i)olicy. 
His  attitude  on  the  subject  of  discipline  in  the  army,  for  ex- 
ample, was  entirely  changed.  Not  many  months  before,  he  had 
declared  that  a  thorough  gradation  in  rank  was  unnecessary, 
that  much  discipline  was  superfluous,  and  that  under  certain 
conditions  soldiers  might  even  argue  with  their  superiors.^  But 
now,  when  the  subject  was  discussed  he  spoke  after  an  entirely 
different  fashion,  "^\^lat,"  he  asked,  "is  the  first  means  by 
which  liberty  can  be  made  to  triumph  over  the  coalition  of 
slaves  armed  against  it?  It  is  discipline.  ^Miat  is  the  second 
means?  It  is  discipline.  What  is  the  third?  It  is  discipline."  ^ 
Again,  when  the  subject  of  providing  for  war  expenses  was  dis- 
cussed, he  gave  his  cordial  support  to  Vergniaud  in  favor  of  a 

1  Madame  Roland,  Memoires,  i,  247-48. 

2  Peltier,  Histoire  du  10  aout,  i,  63.  '  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  404. 

*  Patriote  Frangais,  April  22,  1791.  See  p.  158.         '  Ibid.,  June  3,  1792. 


^Q6  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

grant  of  six  millions  to  be  used  for  the  expenses  of  the  depart- 
ment of  foreign  affairs,  and  denounced  as  unworthy  the  objec- 
tion that  such  a  sum  might  be  misused  —  an  objection  which, 
had  Brissot  been  in  the  opposition,  he  would  surely  have  made 
himself.  ^ 

The  commanding  influence  which  he  was  felt  to  exert  nat- 
urally made  him  the  subject  of  attacks  from  all  sides.  That 
he  was  inconsistent  for  one  thing  did  not  escape  his  opponents. 
They  seized  upon  various  evidences  of  it  and  made  them  the 
basis  of  many  an  arraignment.  Radical  theories  propounded 
by  him  in  his  early  youth,  chance  remarks  showing  possible 
sympathy  with  the  government  of  the  old  regime,  his  present 
connection  with  a  government  which  he  had  formerly  assailed, 
were  all  seized  upon  as  proofs  that  he  was  a  man  unworthy  of 
confidence  and  open  to  suspicion  of  treason  to  the  cause  of  the 
Revolution. 

One  of  the  most  bitter  of  these  assaults  was  made  through  the 
columns  of  the  Journal  de  Paris.  The  writer,  e\'idently  taking 
advantage  of  the  fear  that  the  attack  on  the  status  of  the  mulat- 
toes  might  lead  to  an  attack  on  slavery  itself,  seized  upon  the 
occasion  to  warn  the  public  that  it  needed  to  be  upon  its  guard 
against  those  who  would  assail  the  sacred  right  of  property, 
notably  against  Brissot.  That  Brissot  was  especially  dangerous 
was  evident,  he  declared,  from  his  early  writings,  and  in  proof 
of  his  assertions  he  proceeded  to  quote  from  Brissot's  Recher- 
ches  philosophiques  sur  la  propriete  et  le  vol.^  JMoreover,  any 
man  who  talked  as  Brissot  did  about  the  "odious  distinctions 
between  rich  and  poor"  was  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion. 
To  this  attack  Brissot  responded  promptly  and  with  spirit.' 
The  rascality  of  the  writer,  he  declared,  was  only  too  evident, 
and  showed  itself  in  four  ways:  (1)  by  applying  to  a  civil  state 
what  he  had  said  of  a  state  of  nature;  (2)  by  lea\nng  out,  or 
changing,  the  meaning  of  citations  which  showed  that  far 
from  justifying  theft,  he  condemned  it;  (3)  by  arguing  from  a 

1  Patriote  Franqais,  March  16,  1792.  *  See  p.  7. 

'  Patriote  Franqais,  March  8,  1792. 


IMEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATRT:   ASSE:MBLY    267 

pamphlet  printed  in  1778/  and  little  known,  that  in  1792  he 
vi-ished  to  overturn  society;  (4)  by  printing  this  article  at  a 
moment  when  cN-il-intentioned  persons  were  alarming  the 
French  people  about  an  alleged  attack  on  the  rights  of  proj)- 
erty.  His  real  position,  Brissot  declared,  was  evident  from 
such  a  citation  as  this  —  a  citation  in  which,  by  the  way,  he 
frankly  admitted  that  he  did  not  consider  property  a  natural 
right.  "Doubtless  it  is  necessarj'  that  he  who  has  worked  en- 
joy the  fruit  of  his  work;  without  that  reward  for  the  cultivator, 
no  harvests,  no  wealth,  no  commerce.  Let  us  then  defend  and 
protect  ci\'il  property,  but  let  us  not  say  it  is  founded  in  nat- 
ural rights:  under  the  pretext  that  it  is  a  sacred  right  let  us 
not  outrage  nature;  let  us  not  punish  thieves  so  cruelly."  In 
concluding  his  defense,  Brissot  declared  with  some  venom  that 
such  articles  as  he  was  answering  emanated  from  o])j)onents 
of  the  Revolution  and  were  paid  for  by  the  agents  of  the 
executive  power. 

This  last  shot  naturally  drew  fire.  His  antagonist  hotly 
denied  that  he  had  received  any  money  from  the  executive 
power;  reiterated  his  charge  that  Brissot  did  mean  his  observa- 
tions on  property  to  apply  to  the  civil  state;  pointed  out  that 
Brissot  contradicted  himself  as  to  the  date  of  the  publication 
of  his  pamphlet  on  theft,  ha\nng  said  in  one  place  that  it  ap- 
peared in  1778,  and  in  another  in  1780;  declared  that  in  any 
case  the  pamphlet  was  not  the  work  of  Brissot's  early  youth, 
as  in  1778  to  1780  he  must  have  been  from  thirty -four  to 
thirty-six  years  of  age,-  and  closed  by  answering  Brissot's 
complaint  that  the  anonymous  wTiter  had  chosen  a  time  of 
alarm  for  property  rights  to  make  his  attack  by  the  pertinent 
querj':  "In  the  name  of  Heaven,  M.  Brissot,  at  what  time, 
then,  would  you  invoke  the  respect  due  to  property?"  ' 

Before  this  controversy  was  closed,  Brissot  was  assailed  on 

1  Brissot  in  his  address  had  given  the  date  1778.  In  this  he  was  mistaken; 
1780  was  the  correct  date. 

^  In  this  he  was  mistaken.  Brissot  was  born  in  1754. 
3  Journal  de  Paris,  March  16,  1792. 


268  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  opposite  side,  on  this  occasion  not  for  being  too  revolu- 
tionary, but  for  not  being  revolutionary  enough.  In  the  issue 
of  March  13  of  the  Journal  de  Paris  a  writer  who  signed  him- 
self "F.  D.  P."  alleged  that  Brissot  in  an  essay  crowned  by 
the  Academy  of  Chalons,  in  1780,  had  showTi  himself  to  be  the 
toady  of  the  ministry,  the  apologist  of  the  police,  the  friend  of 
kings  in  general,  and  of  Louis  XVI  in  particular,  and  above 
all,  the  enemy  of  revolution.  These  allegations  Brissot  promptly 
and  hotly  denied,  at  the  same  time  defying  the  writer  to  sign 
his  name  and  to  furnish  proof  of  his  insinuations  that  he  had 
been  in  the  service  of  the  police.^  In  response  the  wTiter,  who 
proved  to  be  Pange,^  accepted  the  defiance,  at  least  to  the  ex- 
tent of  repeating  his  accusations  over  his  signature  ;3  and  when 
Brissot  again  demanded  proofs  that  he  had  been  in  the  ser\ace 
of  the  police,^  he  only  answered  by  inquiring  why  Brissot  was 
so  violent  about  mere  insinuations,  thereby  himself  insinuating 
that  Brissot  must  have  a  guilty  conscience  in  seeing  accusation 
where  none  was  actually  made.^  At  all  events,  Pange  seems  to 
have  offered  no  proof,  and  the  matter  was  apparently  dropped. 
The  success  of  the  Girondins  in  bringing  on  the  war  gave  a 
new  turn  to  the  accusations  against  Brissot.  They  ceased  to 
concern  themselves  with  the  utterances  of  his  youth  and  turned 
upon  his  present  policy  and  purpose.  It  was  charged  that  he 
was  sold  to  the  court,  and  was  working  for  war  in  order  to  sup- 
port royalty  ^  and  establish  a  protectorate.  The  latter  charge 
was  made  vdih  great  force  at  the  Jacobin  Club  by  Robespierre 
and  Merlin  of  Thionvnlle,  who  seized  the  moment  of  the  \'ictory 
of  the  war  party  for  impugning  their  motives.  The  Girondins, 
they  declared,  were  using  their  influence  over  the  court  and 
the  ministry  as  false  patriots  and  had  formed  a  conspiracy, 
with  the  aid  of    Lafayette  and  Narbonne,  to  overturn  the 

^  Pairiote  Frangais,  March  16,  1792. 

2  Pange,  Marie  Francois  Denis  Thomas  de  (bom  1764;  died  1796),  be- 
longed to  an  old  family  connected  with  the  administration  of  the  finances.  He 
collaborated  in  the  publication  of  various  newspapers  during  the  Revolution. 

*  Journal  de  Paris,  March  18,  1792.      ^  Patriate  Frangais,  March  20,  1792. 

*  Journal  de  Paris.  March  25,  1792.      ^  L'Ami  du  Peuple,  April  24,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATRT:  ASSEMBLY    269 

monarchy  and  establish  themselves  in  power.  They  were  base 
intriguers,  indifferent  to  the  cause  of  the  people.  The  precise 
object  of  their  endeavors  varied  with  circumstances,  but  the 
public  might  rest  assured  of  one  thing,  it  was  only  for  their 
own  interest  that  they  were  working.^ 

These  accusations  Brissot  answered  as  follows.  It  could  not 
be  alleged  against  him,  he  began,  that  he  had  not  been  true  to 
the  cause  of  the  people  because  he  had  not  attended  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Jacobin  Club  ^vith  regularity.  His  absence  was  due 
to  precisely  the  contrary  reason,  because  he  had  been  true  to 
the  cause  of  the  people  and  as  their  representative  had  been 
doing  his  duty  at  the  Legislative  Assembly,  where  night  ses- 
sions prevented  his  attendance  at  the  Jacobin  Club.  More- 
over, he  had  never  ceased  to  defend  the  cause  of  the  people  and 
to  attack  their  enemies  in  his  newspajjer.  Then,  turning  to  the 
specific  j)oints  of  attack,  he  disavowed  the  great  influence  which 
had  been  attributed  to  him  in  the  formation  and  direction  of 
the  ministry',  but  at  the  same  time  stoutly  maintained  that  it 
was  a  patriotic  ministry,  in  whose  guidance  he  would  be  proud 
to  have  a  part.  At  this  point  he  was  interrupted  by  Des- 
moulins  who  by  calls  of  "Coquin!"  "Coquin!''  precipitated 
a  scene  of  great  disorder.  When  the  semblance  of  order  was 
finally  restored,  Brissot  continued  his  defense.  He  denied  that 
he  was  striving  to  overturn  royalty  and  to  establish  a  pro- 
tectorate, repudiated  any  intimacy  either  with  Lafayette  or 
Narbonne,  declared  that  he  had  not  even  seen  Lafayette 
since  the  23d  of  June,  1791,  and  that  if  they  were  looking  for  a 
new  Cromwell,  they  would  not  select  him  in  a  man  of  so  little 
character  as  Lafayette.  Such  accusations  should  be  signed 
and  backed  up  with  proofs.  Then,  turning  to  the  charge 
against  Condorcet,  whose  name  had  been  especially  coupled 
with  his,  and  who  was  absent  on  account  of  illness,  he  launched 
into  a  panegyric  of  his  friend,^  and  then  closed  his  speech  wath 

^  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  iii,  518-19. 

^  "  Enfin  il  a  fini  par  itn  panegyrique  de  M.  le  marquis  de  Condorcet,  pan^gy- 
rique  qui  a  fait  demander  a  plusieurs  membres  de  la  Societe  si  M.  de  marquis  de 


270  BRISSOT  DE  WARMLLE 

a  fierce  attack  on  Robespierre,  He  would  not  imitate  his  ad- 
versaries in  calumny,  he  declared;  he  would  not  dwell  on  the 
report  that  they  were  paid  for  their  attacks  or  that  they  main- 
tained a  secret  committee  by  which  to  influence  the  Jacobins, 
but  he  would  say  that  whether  they  wanted  civil  war  or  not 
they  were  following  precisely  the  same  line  of  action  as  those 
who  did.  As  for  himself  he  demanded  no  redress:  ha\'ing  re- 
futed the  denunciations  made  against  him,  he  was  content  to 
pay  no  further  attention  to  them,  and  therefore  moved  that 
the  Club  proceed  to  the  next  order  of  business. 

Brissot's  hot-headed  friend,  Guadet,  was  not  content,  how- 
ever, to  let  the  affair  drop.  Brissot  had  scarcely  finished  before 
he  rushed  to  the  tribune  with  a  demand  that  the  Club  take 
some  definite  action  on  these  calumnies,  at  the  same  time  pay- 
ing his  compliments  to  Robespierre  in  terms  which  provoked  a 
scene  of  ^"ild  disorder,  and  a  renewal  of  the  accusations  on  both 
sides,  till  the  lateness  of  the  hour  made  necessary  an  adjourn- 
ment and  put  a  temporary  end  to  their  incriminations.^  Far 
from  letting  the  matter  rest,  Brissot  continued  his  attack  on 
Robespierre  in  the  Pairiote  Frangais.  "The  public  is  divided," 
he  wrote,  "between  three  opinions  concerning  Robespierre. 
Some  believe  him  a  madman,  others  attribute  his  conduct  to 
wounded  vanity,  others  believe  it  can  be  explained  only  by  a 
reference  to  the  civil  list. "  ^  Brissot  and  Guadet  also  printed 
their  speeches.  This  gave  rise  to  further  difficulty,  for  when  the 
subject  was  again  taken  up  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  Robespierre 
declared  that  Brissot  and  Guadet  had  not  printed  their  speeches 
as  they  had  delivered  them.  He  especially  objected  to  the 
remarks  in  the  preface  of  Brissot's  speech  in  which  Brissot 

Condorcet  etaii  mort,  tant  on  etait  eloigne  de  croire  quon  put  parler  d'un  homme 
vivant  avec  des  elogues  aussi  exagercs."  Delacroix,  "L' Intrigue  dcvaiUe  ou 
Robespierre  rengS  des  outrages  et  des  calomnies  des  ambitieux"  Annales  re- 
volutionnaires,  i,  339.   (April,  1908.) 

1  Les  Jacobins,  iii,  5:26-36.  Note  also  the  account  given  by  the  Rivolutions 
de  Paris,  April  21-28,  1792.  This  paper  took  a  fairly  judicial  attitude  toward 
the  affair,  but  in  the  main  supported  Brissot. 

*  Patriate  Frangais,  April  28,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSE:MBLY    271 

referred  to  his  (Robespierre's)  adherents  in  the  gallery.  The 
result  was  another  extremely  stormy  session,  in  the  course  of 
which  Robespierre  threatened  to  ^\-ithd^aw  from  the  Club  en- 
tirely, unless  they  would  permit  him  to  defend  himself  from 
the  libels  directed  against  him.  After  a  prolonged  scene  of  dis- 
order, he  finally  won  a  slight  \nctory,  for  although  the  Club 
did  not  pass  any  decree  of  expulsion,  he  did  succeed  in  obtain- 
ing a  decree  that  the  Club  did  not  recognize  these  objectionable 
allusions  and  that  an  address  to  that  effect  be  sent  to  the  af- 
filiated societies.  Brissot  and  his  adherents  were,  therefore, 
at  least  partially  discredited,  ^  and  a  step  was  taken  in  the  direc- 
tion of  their  final  defeat  the  following  year. 

They  were  still  further  discredited  by  their  failure  to  achieve 
victories  on  the  frontier.  They  had  been  so  acti\e  in  forcing  a 
declaration  of  war,  and  so  ready  in  their  promise  of  quick  and 
easy  success,  that  their  critics  soon  became  loud  in  their  de- 
mands for  an  explanation.  Results,  and  immediate  results, 
were  demanded,  and  the  failure  to  produce  them  was  sufficient, 
it  was  urged,  to  give  rise  to  the  gravest  suspicions.  As  Brissot 
had  been  a  leader  of  the  war  party,  it  was  about  him  that  these 
suspicions  naturally  centered.  "When  we  were  discussing  the 
great  question  of  the  war,  what  did  M.  Brissot  say?  "  asked  the 
Revolutions  de  Paris.  "WTiat  answer  did  he  make  to  his  op- 
ponents? He  saw  only  Coblenz,  desired  to  destroy  Coblenz, 
and  claimed  that  if  Coblenz  were  destroyed  the  Revolution 
would  be  accomplished.  M.  Brissot  needed  a  campaign  of  only 
fifteen  days  to  pacify  Europe  and  avenge  France;  everything 
was  ready,  everything  prepared  for  his  vast  undertaking.  It 
is  now  a  month  since  the  war  was  declared;  we  have  not  taken 
a  step,  our  armies  have  remained  stationary."  The  writer 
then  went  on  to  paint  in  somber  colors  the  general  situation : 
"  An  army  in  frightful  condition,  in  want  of  food  and  munitions, 
the  frontiers  undefended,  the  enemies  of  the  revolution  pro- 

»  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  in,  548.  See  also  Journal  des  debats  de  la  socicte  des 
amis  de  la  consiitution,  seance  du  lundi,  April  30,  1792.  See  the  defense  of 
Robespierre  by  Marat  in  L'Ami  du  Peuple,  May  3,  1792. 


272  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

tected  by  the  courts,  the  condition  of  the  army  not  reported  by 
its  generals."  Was  all  this,  he  asked,  the  result  of  chance  or 
conspiracy  ?  ^  In  any  case,  the  Revolutions  de  Paris  continued, 
they  certainly  owed  the  public  an  explanation  of  a  policy  that 
was  even  more  tortuous  and  mysterious  than  that  of  Duport,^ 
and  Delessart,  Narbonne,  Duportail,^  and  Montmorin.^ 

The  reply  of  Brissot  and  the  other  Girondins  was  vigorous 
and  effective.  That  they  were  traitors  they  indignantly  denied, 
but  there  did  exist  danger  of  treason  and  that  danger  was  to  be 
found  in  the  counselors  by  whom  the  king  was  surrounded.  It 
was  these  men  who  constituted  a  veritable  "Austrian  Com- 
mittee," sympathizing  with  Austria  and  working  in  its  inter- 
ests. Even  before  the  war  had  been  declared,  Brissot  had 
attacked  several  of  the  former  members  of  the  ministry  under 
this  name,  asserting  that  though  they  had  been  ejected  from 
office  and  the  party  which  they  represented  deposed  from 
power,  they  still  continued  their  machinations.^ 

The  Girondins  now  instituted  a  more  specific  and  violent 
attack,  which,  while  directed  nominally  against  the  ex-min- 
isters, helped  to  discredit  royalty  itself.  On  the  23d  of  May, 
Gensonne  opened  the  fusillade  by  denouncing  the  "Commit- 
tee" before  the  Assembly.  He  was  followed  by  Brissot,  who, 
in  a  scathing  arraignment,  declared  that  the  "Austrian  Com- 

1  RSvolutions  de  Paris,  May  12-19,  1792. 

2  Marguerite  Louis  Frangois  Duport-Dutertre  was  born  in  Paris  in  1754. 
An  advocate  of  parlement  under  the  old  regime,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
electoral  assembly  of  Paris  in  1789,  and  later  became  substitute  for  the  jrro- 
cureur-gcnhal  of  the  Commune.  From  November,  1790,  to  March,  1792,  he 
was  minister  of  justice.   He  was  guillotined  in  November,  1793. 

^  Duportail,  minister  of  war  imder  Louis  XVL  He  kept  his  post  till  1792, 
but  was  many  times  called  to  the  bar  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  to  answer  ac- 
cusations made  against  him;  was  finally  obliged  to  resign  and  to  hide  in  order 
to  escape  imprisonment.   He  died  in  1802. 

^  Armand  Marc,  Comte  de  Montmorin,  was  born  in  Auvergne  in  1745. 
Under  the  old  regime  he  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  Madrid  and  in  1787  became 
minister  for  foreign  affairs,  which  ofl5ce  he  continued  to  hold  ^-ith  some  inter- 
ruptions till  October,  1791.  After  his  resignation  he  remained  an  adviser  of 
Louis  XVI.  He  lost  his  life  in  the  massacres  of  September. 

^  Patriate  Frangais,  March  15,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATR'E  ASSEMBLY    273 

mittee"  was  characterized  by  "absolute  devotion  to  what  is 
called  royal  prerogative;  by  absolute  devotion  to  Austria,  by 
a  policy  of  no  alliance  with  Prussia  or  England,  no  matter  how 
advantageous  such  an  alliance  might  be;  by  indulgence  to  the 
real  rebel  emigres;  and  by  opposition  to  the  war  against  the 
House  of  Austria  after  having  provoked  it."  Among  the  active 
members  of  the  committee  he  named  the  former  ministers,  Du- 
port  and  Bcrtrand  de  Moleville.^  Duport,  he  declared,  used 
his  official  position  to  sacrifice  the  constitution  to  the  executive 
power,  while  Bertrand  disorganized  the  na\y  and  hindered 
the  pacification  of  the  colonies  with  the  jjurpose  of  keeping 
them  under  the  control  of  the  king.  But  the  heart  and  soul 
of  the  "Austrian  Committee"  was  Montmorin.  As  proof  of 
Montmorin's  loyalty  to  the  king,  rather  than  to  the  constitu- 
tion, Brissot  produced  a  letter  to  Xoailles,-  dated  August  3, 
1791,  in  which  he  said  that  the  best  men  of  the  x\ssembly  were 
acting  in  concert  with  the  true  servants  of  the  king,  in  order  to 
sustain  the  monarchy  and  restore  to  His  Majesty  the  powers 
which  are  necessary^  if  he  were  to  govern.  It  was  stated  further 
that  in  this  same  letter  he  had  declared  that  "within  fifteen 
days  there  would  be  an  end  to  the  truly  deplorable  state  of  the 
royal  family."  As  a  further  proof  of  Bertrand 's  antagonism 
to  the  Revolution,  Brissot  produced  another  letter,  in  this  case 
written  by  an  agent  of  the  government,  in  which  he  spoke  of 

1  Antoine  Frangois  Bertrand  de  Moleville  was  born  at  Toulouse  in  1744.  An 
intendant  of  lirittany  under  the  old  regime,  he  became  minister  of  marine  in 
1789,  which  office  he  held  till  March,  1792.  He  fled  to  England  during  the 
Terror,  returned  to  France  at  the  Restoration,  and  died  in  1818.  He  and  Brissot 
bad  already  crossed  swords,  as  is  evident  from  the  following:  " Lettre  de  M. 
Bertrand  de  Moleville,  minister  de  la  marine,  a  lA)uis  XVI  au  sujet  de  voies  et 
moyens  a  employer  pour  diriger  des  poursuUes  contre  le  redadeur  et  Vimprimeur 
de  Vexicrable  jemlle,  le  Patriate  Franqais,  pour  son  article  du  dimanche  pre- 
cedent." In  Troisieme  recueil  des  pieces  deposees  a  la  Commission  extraor- 
dinaire des  douze,  i,  58.  Bertrand  de  Moleville's  Histoirc  de  la  Revolution,  vii, 
54,  gives  the  text  of  the  letter  and  the  answer  of  Louis  XVI.    Tuetey,  iv,  128. 

2  Emmanuel  Marie  Louis,  Marquis  de  Noailles,  was  born  at  Paris  in  1743, 
and  died  in  1822.  After  a  career  in  the  army  he  turned  to  diplomacy  and 
in  1791  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  Vienna.  He  was  under  suspicion  by  the 
Assembly  for  his  sympathy  with  the  cause  of  the  king. 


274  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

being  permitted  by  Bertrand  to  serve  the  Count  d'Artois, 
Bertrand,  Brissot  continued,  was  devoted  not  only  to  the  king, 
but  to  the  House  of  Austria,  and  had  shown  his  devotion  by 
concealing  dispatches  and  by  favoring  the  emigrSs,  and  finally, 
with  his  retirement  from  the  ministry  he  had  not  ceased  his 
machinations,  but  was  still  working  in  behalf  of  Austria.  In 
view  of  these  facts,  action,  Brissot  declared,  should  be  taken. 
He  therefore  concluded  by  demanding  that  Montmorin  should 
be  impeached  and  that  an  investigation  should  be  made  im- 
mediately of  the  conduct  of  Duport  and  Bertrand.  In  spite  of 
his  efforts  Brissot  was  not  successful,  for  although  his  speech 
was  ordered  printed  and  copies  sent  to  various  committees,  his 
motion  was  not  carried.^ 

Within  a  few  days  Bertrand  and  Montmorin  presented  able 
memoirs  to  the  Assembly,  setting  forth  their  defense.  In  an- 
swer to  the  charge  that  he  had  hindered  the  pacification  of  the 
colonies,  Bertrand  offered  to  produce  his  correspondence,  and 
reminded  the  Assembly  that  every  communication  which  he 
had  received  on  the  subject  he  had  already  submitted  to  them, 
and  declared  that  an  examination  of  the  dates  of  the  measures 
voted  and  of  their  execution  would  be  a  convincing  argument 
that  he  had  used  all  possible  haste.  His  alleged  willful  dis- 
organization of  the  navy  he  absolutely  denied;  the  state  of  the 
na\^  could  be  fully  accounted  for  without  resorting  to  allega- 
tions of  treason. - 

^  Discours  sur  la  dSnonciations  contre  le  comiic  autrichien  et  contre  M.  Mont- 
morin. Les  Revolutions  de  Paris,  May  19-26,  in  commenting  upon  this  speech, 
condemned  Brissot  bitterly  for  saj-ing,  "qu'on  a  reconnu  V influence  du  comitS 
Autrichien  dans  les  evencmens  qui  out  recemment  afflige  la  France,  dans  cette  op- 
position d'un  certain  parti  a  la  guerre  offensive  contre  VAutriche,  dans  les  lenteurs 
des  preparatifs  de  guerre,  dans  la  communication  du  plan  d'attaque,  dans  les 
mefiances  semees  entre  les  generaux  et  les  ministres."  He  could  hardly  have  been 
acting  in  good  faith,  Les  Revolutions  declared,  when  he  wrote  these  lines.  The 
Venetian  ambassador  wTote  as  follows:  "Li  due  discorsi  non  furono  che  due 
lunghe  e  vaghe  declamazioni  si  promisero  delle  prove,  ma  niuna  se  ne  porta,  e  per- 
fino  li  piu  pervenuti  trovarono  una  tale  debolezza  nelli  assunti,  e  vanita  nei  ragiona- 
menti,  che  siformo  anzi  ncl  comune  una  prevenzione  del  contrario  di  quanta  s'iu' 
tendeva  conjermare."  Kovalevsky,  Dispacci  degli  ambasciatori  veneti,  449. 

2  Observations  adressees  h  I'Assemblee  nationale  sur  les  discours  prononcSs 
par  Mm.  Gensomid  et  Brissot. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY   275 

Montmorin  in  making  his  defense  contended  that  Brissot 
had  been  guilty  of  unfair  play  in  his  attack,  in  that  his  charges 
were  based  on  extracts  from  letters  which  would  present  a  dif- 
ferent view  were  the  whole  letter  given,  a  contention  which  he 
proceeded  to  support  by  giv-ing  the  letters  in  full.  The  allusion 
to  a  concerted  action  between  the  servants  of  the  king  and  the 
best  members  of  the  Assembly  referred  to  the  conferences  be- 
tween the  ministers  and  the  Assembly.  As  for  the  phrase, 
"servants  of  the  king,"  that  was  a  mere  form  of  words  sanc- 
tioned even  in  England.  The  deplorable  condition  of  the  royal 
family,  soon  to  cease,  had  reference  to  the  time  of  suspense 
when  the  constitution  was  under  re\nsion.  His  desire,  Mont- 
morin declared,  was  not  to  support  the  king  against  a72y  con- 
stitution, but  only  against  a  constitution  which  left  him  with 
insufficient  power.  The  other  letter,  regarding  the  relations  of 
the  agent  of  the  French  government  with  the  Count  d'Artois, 
would,  he  admitted,  be  a  damaging  piece  of  evidence  were  it  not 
knowTi  that  it  concerned  a  permission  given  in  1789,  and  that 
immediately  after  the  receipt  of  the  letter  the  writer  was  re- 
moved from  his  position.  As  for  his  relations  with  Austria, 
Montmorin  declared  that  far  from  trying  to  bring  about  war 
with  her  he  had  done  all  he  could  to  keep  the  peace,  and,  for 
reasons  of  principle,  because  he  believed  in  an  Austrian  alli- 
ance. But  that  he  had  concealed  dispatches  or  favored  the 
emigres,  or  that  since  his  resignation  in  October,  1791,  he  had 
had  any  part  in  public  aflFairs,  he  emphatically  denied.' 

While  the  Girondins  were  attacking  the  former  ministers  of 

^  Observations  de  M.  de  Montmorin  adressSes  a  I'AssemblSe  nationale  sur  les 
discours  prononces  par  Mm.  GensonnS  et  Brissot  dans  la  sSance  du  23  mai, 
1792. 

The  following  declaration  made  by  one  Petit  in  the  Archives  nationales,  C 
218.  160,  118,  shows  iiow  influence  might  be  brought  to  bear  from  the  galleries: 
"  Qrte  le  jour  oil  M.  Brissot,  depute  a  VAssemblee  nationale,  a  parle  sur  la  comile 
avfrichien  les  d'Goulet  et  Benzclin,  avoient  amenes  dans  les  tribunes  de  VAs- 
semblee trente-cimj  personnes,  dont  le  premier  douze,  et  le  second  vingi-trois,  a 
chacun  desquelles  Us  avoient  paye  trois  litres  pour  cabaler  contre  M.  Brissot,  ap- 
plauder  a  tout  ce  qui  seraii  dit  en  faveur  du  Rai  et  du  pouvoir  executif  et  des- 
aprouver  tout  ce  qui  seroit  contre." 


276  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

the  king,  Ihey  were  also  striving  with  all  their  might,  so  their 
enemies  declared,  to  discredit  the  king  and  queen  directly,  and 
thus  to  overthrow  the  monarchy,  and  to  establish  a  republic. 
This  had  been  Brissot's  motive,  it  was  alleged,  in  urging  for- 
eign war,  and,  according  to  persistent  report,  he  had  for  a 
month  been  seeking  the  same  end  by  means  of  a  conspiracy.  A 
part  of  the  plan,  if  a  letter  credited  to  the  Count  de  Fersen  is 
to  be  believed,  was  a  denunciation  of  the  queen.  The  plot  was 
concocted  at  a  supper  at  Condorcet's  and  the  conspirators  in- 
cluded Lafayette,  Petion,  Brissot,  the  Abl>e  Sieyes,  and  Nar- 
bonne.  Condorcet  drew  up  the  arraignment  of  the  queen. 
Nineteen  points  there  were,  of  which  the  most  damning  was 
that  she  had  an  understanding  with  the  emperor  and  INI.  Deles- 
sart,  with  the  purpose  of  stirring  up  foreign  powers  to  attack 
France.  In  view  of  such  a  condition  of  affairs,  it  was  proposed 
to  get  possession  of  her  person,  separate  her  from  the  king  and 
from  her  son ;  then  to  suspend  the  king  from  his  functions  as  an 
accomplice  to  the  intriguers,  on  the  ground  that  he  could  not 
be  trusted  to  direct  the  operations  of  the  army  against  the 
powers  who  were  making  war  in  his  behalf;  and,  finally,  to  en- 
trust the  education  of  the  dauphin  to  proper  hands.  ^  Rumors  of 
this  plot  having  got  abroad,  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  it, 
temporarily,  at  least.  ^Miile  Fersen  may  have  been  mistaken 
in  the  definiteness  of  the  schemes  in  question,  he  was  not  the 
only  one  who  was  confident  of  the  existence  of  a  republican 
conspiracy.  Salomon  speaks  of  a  mysterious  plot,  whose 
leaders,  who  included  Sieyes,  Brissot,  Condorcet,  and  Cla- 
viere,  were  accustomed  to  meet,  now  at  Madame  Helvetius's 
on  the  Versailles  road,  now  at  the  home  of  a  woman  named 
D'Odun.-  Early  in  INIarch  the  Aj7ii  du  Roi  gave  what  claimed 
to  be  authentic  information  of  a  secret  committee,  composed  of 

^  Le  Comte  Axel  de  Fersen  au  Roi  de  Suede  Gustave,  Bruxelles,  le  24  mai 
(1792).  Feuillet  de  Conches,  Louh  XVI,  v,  360.  The  authenticity  of  some  of 
Feuillet  de  Conches 's  material  is  very  doubtful,  but  that  contained  in  the  latter 
volumes  (including  the  5th)  is  more  reliable  than  that  in  the  earlier  volumes. 
See  Lord  Acton,  Lectures,  364. 

2  Salomon,  Correspondance,  386,  quoted  in  Cahn,  Condorcet,  322. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATR^E  ASSEMBLY    277 

ardent  republicans,  inspired  by  Brissot  and  Condorcet,  who 
were  scheming  an  atrocious  war  against  the  friends  of  the  king 
and  of  the  monarchy.  The  Venetian  ambassador,  writing  home 
in  February,  declared  that  the  dominant  party  was  working 
hard  to  bring  about  a  public  schism  between  the  Assembly  and 
the  king,  with  the  expectation  that  the  king  would  either  lose 
public  confidence,  or,  that,  frightened  by  the  opposition,  he 
would  take  flight  and  leave  the  power  to  the  Assembly.*  Du- 
mont  likewise  affirms  that  the  Girondins  were  working  for  the 
overthrow  of  monarchy,-  and  Mallet  du  Pan,  in  April,  1792, 
declares  specifically  that  Condorcet,  Brissot,  and  Sieyes  had 
determined  to  dethrone  the  king.^ 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  temper  of  these  secret  meetings, 
and  however  republican  the  real  desires  of  the  Girondins,  they 
were  not  ready  to  avow  themselves  openly,  and  on  INIay  10, 
Brissot,  in  a  long  editorial  in  the  Patrioie  Franqais,  categori- 
cally denied  the  existence  of  a  republican  faction.  France  or 
rather  the  capital,  he  declared,  was  divided  into  three  parties, 
excluding  the  aristocrats  and  the  counter-revolutionists.  These 
three  parties  were  called  the  enrages,  the  patriots  and  the 
moderates.  None  of  them  desired  a  republic,  they  were  all 
under  the  banner  of  the  constitution,  they  all  had  sworn  to 
maintain  the  constitution,  they  all  invoked  the  constitution, 
they  all  talked  of  liberty  and  equality,  they  all  spoke  the  same 
language.  There  were,  however,  radical  differences  among 
them,  and  these  he  proceeded  to  state.  The  enrages  recognized 
only  the  declaration  of  rights,  swore  only  by  that,  though  ap- 
parently they  sustained  the  constitution.  They  wished  to  bring 
the  constitution  in  all  its  parts  into  harmony  with  the  declara- 
tion of  rights;  they  were  always  talking  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people  because  by  this  means  they  hoped  to  secure  a  domi- 
nating influence;  and,  not  being  able  to  hope  for  anything 
while  order  was  maintained,  they  propagated  every  kind  of 
doctrine  calculated  to  produce  disorder. 

1  Kovalevsky,  Amhasciatori  vendi,  399.  ^  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  391. 

2  Mallet  du  Pan,  Memoires,  i,  260. 


278  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

The  moderates,  on  the  other  hand,  put  the  constitution 
above  the  declaration  of  rights.  They  wanted  at  all  costs  the 
maintenance  of  property.  They  looked  upon  the  people  as 
incapable  of  perfection  and  therefore  to  be  kept  enchained  by 
the  law  forever,  because  they  were  incapable  of  being  guided 
by  reason.  They  never  spoke  of  equality,  but  of  the  consti- 
tution. 

The  patriots  were  to  be  distinguished  both  from  the  enrages 
and  from  the  moderates.  They  revered  the  declaration  of  rights, 
but  at  the  same  time  they  also  wanted  the  constitution  revered 
in  every  respect.  They  loved  the  people,  but  they  did  not  flatter 
them ;  they  loved  the  people,  but  they  wanted  the  people  to 
obey  the  law  and  to  be  punished  when  they  did  not  obey  it. 
Like  the  moderates  they  wanted  peace  and  the  maintenance 
of  property;  they  wanted  the  reign  of  law,  but  they  wanted 
also  and  first  of  all  the  reign  of  reason.  But  unlike  the  enrages 
and  the  moderates,  they  were  not  instruments  in  the  hands  of 
the  executive  power.  In  short,  the  three  parties  were  to  be 
characterized  thus:  "Patriot,  friend  of  the  people,  friend  of  the 
constitution;  Moderate,  false  friend  of  the  constitution,  enemy 
of  the  people;  Enrage,  false  friend  of  the  people,  enemy  of  the 
constitution."  According  to  these  characteristics,  he  con- 
cluded, it  was  easy  to  see  which  party  reasonable  men  ought 
to  prefer.^ 

But  whatever  their  ultimate  purpose,  the  Girondins  were 
determined,  so  long  as  the  king  remained  on  the  throne,  to 
limit  his  power.  They  accordingly  called  for  the  dismissal  of 
the  king's  guard,  on  the  ground  that  such  action  was  demanded 
for  the  "maintenance  of  the  constitution,  the  security  of  the 
realm,  and  even  for  the  safety  of  the  king  himself."  They  also 
demanded  the  establishment  of  a  camp  of  federes  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Assembly,  and  a  decree  for  the  deportation  of 
the  non-juring  priests  —  all  of  which  they  successfully  carried 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  May  10,  1792.  It  was  apparently  with  the  express 
purpose  of  combating  this  point  of  view  that  Robespierre  established  the 
Defenseur  de  la  Constitution.  Aulard,  Histoire  politique,  182. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    279 

through,  and  all  of  which  Brissot  supported  in  his  newspaper.^ 
These  measures  the  Girondins  considered  essential  to  their  own 
authority,  and  since  they  had  good  reason  to  fear  the  king's 
veto,  they  used  all  means  at  their  command  to  prevent  it. 

Madame  Roland  seconded  their  efforts  and  wrote  an  in- 
solent letter  to  the  king,  —  in  her  husband's  name,  of  course, 
—  in  which  she  insisted  that  he  give  his  consent  to  the  two 
decrees.^  What  followed  is  well  known:  the  indignation  of  the 
king  and  queen;  the  dismissal  of  Servan,  Claviere,  and  Roland, 
on  the  advice  of  Dumouriez;  the  king's  subsequent  refusal, 
despite  Dumouriez's  persuasions,  to  conciliate  popular  opinion 
by  signing  the  decrees,  and  the  resignation  of  Dumouriez. 

With  the  conduct  of  Dumouriez  in  turning  against  them  the 
Brissotins  were  naturally  highly  indignant.  In  their  opinion 
he  was  nothing  less  than  a  "vile  intriguer."  "It  is  a  trying 
thing,"  WTote  Brissot  in  his  journal,  "for  a  man  who  has  any 
delicacy,  for  a  patriot  who  realizes  how  necessary  union  is  for 
the  prosperity  of  our  armies,  to  raise  the  mask  which  covered 
the  perfidy  of  a  minister  whom  he  esteemed  ...  the  only  thing 
w4th  which  I  have  to  reproach  myself  is  not  to  have  done  it 
sooner.  You  can  guess  that  I  am  speaking  of  the  fellow, 
Dumouriez,  who,  with  his  protestations  of  patriotism,  good 
behavior  in  the  Vendee,  and  the  reputation  of  some  military 
talent,  succeeded  in  seducing  the  patriots  and  in  getting  himself 
called  by  the  people  to  the  ministry."  ' 

It  was  evident  from  his  defense  that  Brissot  was  troubled 
lest  his  own  reputation  might  suffer  because  of  his  relations  to 
Dumouriez.  He  accordingly  wrote  an  open  letter  to  Dumouriez, 
published  in  the  Patrwte  Frangais,  of  June  16,  the  main  purpose 
of  which  was  to  justify  himself.  His  only  object,  he  declared, 
was  to  be  useful  to  his  country  and  he  had  supported  Dumouriez 
merely  as  a  means  to  that  end;  but  his  eyes  ought  to  have  been 

1  Patriate  FrariQais,  May  30,  31,  June  5,  7,  12,  1792. 

2  Memoires  de  Madame  Roland,  i,  241.  The  king  had  accepted  the  decree 
providing  for  the  dismissal  of  his  guard. 

3  Patriate  Franqais,  June  14,  1792. 


280  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

opened,  if  only  by  Dumouriez's  persistence  in  choosing  such 
a  man  as  Bonne-Carrere.^ 

For  his  disturbance  of  mind  Brissot  seems  to  have  had  good 
reason,  for  ugly  insinuations  were  being  made  against  him. 
Certain  persons  were  accused,  in  the  aristocratic  newspapers 
and  in  placards,  of  having  received,  without  legitimate  reason, 
large  sums  of  money.  These  accusations,  Brissot  declared  in 
his  newspaper  of  June  17,  while  they  mentioned  no  names,  were 
obviously  directed  against  him  and  his  friends,  and  were  in- 
spired by  Dumouriez,  who  knew  they  were  false.  Bonne- 
Carrere  ^  meanwhile  did  not  propose  to  let  Brissot's  attack  on 
him  go  unanswered.  According  to  his  account,  instead  of  hav- 
ing received  money,  Brissot  was  incensed  because  he  had  not, 
his  whole  ground  of  resentment  against  Dumouriez  being  that 
the  latter  had  refused  to  share  with  him  a  large  sum  of  money 
voted  for  secret  expenses.  This  rumor,  set  afloat  by  Bonne- 
Carrere,  is  absolutely  without  foundation.  It  served,  however, 
to  widen  the  breach  between  Dumouriez  and  Brissot. 

Meanwhile,  the  breach  with  the  king  was  rapidly  approach- 
ing a  crisis.  His  attitude  toward  the  decrees  against  the  priests 
and  the  camp  oijederes  was  no  secret,  although  the  formal  an- 
nouncement of  his  veto  was  not  made  till  June  19.  The  danger 
was  grave,  as  Brissot  had  already  pointed  out.  "It  is  no 
longer  possible,"  he  wrote  in  the  Patriote  Franqais  of  June  18, 
"to  conceal  the  dangers  into  which  the  intriguers  of  the  court 
precipitate  the  state;  continued  indifference  would  no  longer 
be  weakness,  it  would  be  treason.  And  the  National  Assembly, 

^  Premiere  lettre  de  Brissot  a  Dumouriez,  Patriots  Frangais,  June  16,  1792. 

*  Bonne-Carrere  already  bore  a  grudge  against  Brissot,  because  the  latter 
had  opposed  his  appointment  as  director  general  of  foreign  affairs.  (See  p.  265; 
also  Madame  Roland,  Memoires,  i,  246-48;  also  Patriote  Frangais,  Jime  16, 
1792;  April  20,  1793.)  Bonne-Carrere,  says  Brissot,  became  his  enemy  because 
he  (Brissot)  had  exposed  one  of  his  proteges  as  a  traitor.  (Masson,  Un  Diplo- 
mat, 199.)  At  all  events,  on  August  10,  Brissot  demanded  that  seals  be  placed 
on  Bonne-Carrere's  papers,  and  declared  that  he  was  not  a  fit  person  to  hold 
the  post  to  which  he  had  been  assigned,  —  that  of  ambassador  to  the  United 
States.  Seals  were  accordingly  placed  on  his  papers,  and  his  appointment  was 
revoked-  {Moniteur,  August  12,  1792.) 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    281 

which  can  still  save  the  country  if  it  does  act,  will  destroy  it  if 
it  hesitates."  While  the  Assembly  still  hesitated  the  people 
acted.  The  result  was  the  events  of  June  20,  when  a  huge 
mob  forced  its  way  into  the  Assembly,  presented  a  petition 
protesting  against  the  dismissal  of  the  king's  ministers  and 
demanding  that  some  action  be  taken  against  him,  and  then 
invaded  the  Tuileries  and  insulted  the  king  and  queen. 

In  the  actual  events  of  the  day  Brissot  seems  to  have  taken 
no  part.   Precisely  to  what  extent  he  and  the  other  Girondins 
were  responsible  for  instigating  the  movement  is  a  matter  of 
doubt.    According  to  the  police  commissioner,  Sergent-Mar- 
Qeau,  the  whole  affair  had  been  planned  in  the  salon  of  ^Madame 
Roland,   and   Brissot,   Gensonne,    and   Guadet   were   impli- 
cated. ^  Moreover,  at  the  trial  of  the  Girondins  Chabot  swore 
that  Brissot  had  declared  that  the  20th  of  June  had  produced 
the  effect  intended.-    But  this  evidence  in  both  cases  is  from 
an  unfriendly  point  of  view  and  lacks  corroboration.    Brissot's 
previous  attitude,  however,  shows  that  he  had  not  shrunk  from 
the  possibility  of  a  popular  rising.  As  has  been  pointed  out  by 
M.  Aulard,  it  was  he  who  helped  to  arm  the  people  of  Pans 
with  pikes.3   The  Patriote  Fran^ais  of  October  26,  1791,  gave 
the  design  of  a  pike,  and  on  the  10th  of  February,  1792,  it  ex- 
plained that  the  use  of  the  pike  was  to  hold  the  court  to  its 
duty.   "While  the  enemies  of  the  people  were  making  prepara- 
tions against  them,"  it  declared,  "the  people  also  made  their 
preparations.    Pikes  began  the  revolution,  pikes  will  finish  it." 
As  to  the  actual  events  of  the  day,  the  Patriote  Franqais  ap- 
proved heartily  of  the  original  purpose  of  the  demonstration, 
and  expressed  no  regret  at  the  outcome,  nor  did  it  show  any 
sympathy  with  the  king  and  queen  in  their  distressing  situa- 

1  }ioiice  historique  sur  les  evenements  du  10  aout,  1792,  et  des  20  et  21  jvin 
prScSdents.  par  Sergent-Margeau.  Revue  retrospective  seconde  sene,  in,  34^. 
Quoted  in  Eire,  La  Legende  des  Girondins,  73.  In  his  deposition  made  June  21, 
Sergent  does  not  mention  Brissot.  See  The  Uprising  of  June  20, 1792,  by  L.  B. 
ReiflFer. 

2  Moniteur,  October  27,  1793,  supplement,  p.  x. 
*  Les  Oraieurs  de  la  Legislative,  i,  236. 


282  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

tion;  and  when  Petion  was  suspended  for  his  failure  to  prevent 
the  uprising,  it  upheld  the  Assembly  in  quashing  the  suspen- 
sion.^ On  the  whole,  it  was  comparatively  mild  in  its  expres- 
sions of  approval,  and  was  inclined  to  treat  the  affair  lightly, 
comparing  it  to  a  shower  which  would  serve  to  cool  the  air. 
On  July  6,  Brissot  commented  on  the  events  of  June  20  at 
some  length.  He  expressed  himself  with  caution,  however;  in- 
deed, his  main  purpose  seemed  to  be  not  to  commit  himself 
unreservedly  to  either  side.  He  spoke,  for  instance,  of  the 
people  as  desiring  liberty,  but  also  law;  as  recognizing  their 
duties  as  well  as  their  rights;  at  the  same  time  as  led  into  ex- 
cess by  unworthy  agitators.  In  the  case  of  the  national  guard, 
there  was  the  spirit  of  the  rank  and  file  to  be  commended,  but 
quite  another  spirit  among  the  oflScers  was  to  be  condemned. 
As  for  the  king,  he  wanted  the  constitution,  but  was  not  sin- 
cerely reconciled  with  the  Revolution. - 

In  taking  this  halfway  position,  Brissot  but  represented  the 
general  spirit  of  the  Girondins.  They  had  gained  nothing  from 
the  events  of  June  20;  instead  of  increasing  their  chances  of  a 
return  to  power  under  the  monarchy,  they  had  only  prepared 
the  way  for  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy.  They  vacillated 
in  regard  to  decisive  action,  however,  but  at  the  same  time  con- 
tinued to  attack  the  king.  In  these  attacks  Brissot  both  took 
an  active  part  himself  and  also  sustained  the  onslaughts  of  his 
friends.  For  example,  he  commended  Vergniaud's  speech  of 
July  3,  in  which  that  famous  orator  struck  so  heavily  at  the 
king.  "One  passage  was  especially  admired,"  Brissot  wTote,^ 
"that  in  which  he  traced  the  course  which  an  anti-revolution- 
ary king  might  follow  who  wanted  to  destroy  the  constitution 
by  means  of  the  constitution  itself.  Every  member  easily  made 
the  application,  and  the  only  thing  with  which  M.  Cambon  re- 
proached the  orator  was  that  he  put  in  hypothesis  what  exists 
in  reality." 

Their  attack  on  the  king  did  not  restrain  the  Girondins  from 

^  Patriate  Frangais,  June  23,  1792;  also  July  14. 

2  Ibid.,  July  6,  1792.  ^  m^^^  j^iy  4^  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    283 

taking  part  in  the  demonstration  which  occurred  a  few  days 
later,  known  as  the  "kiss  of  Lamourette,"  when,  on  the  pro- 
posal of  Lamourette  that  all  who  "  loathed  and  hated  the  idea 
of  a  republic  should  rise,"  the  deputies  of  the  right  and  the  left 
flew  into  one  another's  arms  and  embraced  one  another  with 
rapture.  Whether  or  not  Brissot  joined  in  this  demonstration 
is  not  stated.  Although  the  Patriote  Frangais  formally  and 
enthusiastically  approved  of  the  occurrence,  alluding  to  it  as 
"a  happy,  thrice  happy  reunion,"  ^  to  Brissot  himself  the 
situation  was  most  disconcerting.  He  was  just  on  the  point  of 
making  a  speech  against  the  king  which  this  denunciation 
rendered  most  untimely.  He  had  the  good  sense,  however,  to 
see  that  it  was  a  mere  hysterical  outbreak  which  would  not 
permanently  influence  real  convictions,  and  that  all  he  had  to 
do  was  to  posti)one  his  speech.  He,  therefore,  with  a  skilKul 
allusion  to  the  fraternity  thus  delightfully  restored,  begged 
that  his  intended  speech  might  be  put  off  till  the  next  da3%  on 
the  ground  that  it  contained  some  allusions  no  longer  fitting 
now  that  i)eace  was  restored. ^ 

The  next  day  but  one  he  made  the  promised  speech,  but  al- 
though he  may  have  modified  it  in  detail,  in  its  main  lines  it 
supported  the  position  which  Vergniaud  had  taken  a  few  days 
before.  Like  Vergniaud,  within  the  limits  of  a  single  speech  he 
attacked  the  monarch  and  ujiheld  the  monarchy.  But  he  went 
even  further  than  Vergniaud,  for  what  the  latter  had  only 
hinted  and  suggested,  Brissot  said  openly.  The  country  was 
still  in  danger,  he  declared,  in  spite  of  the  recent  reconciliation 
between  the  members  of  the  Assembly.  That  reconciliation 
was  certainly  a  cause  for  rejoicing,  but  it  would  not  prevent 
the  Prussians  and  the  Austrians  from  marching  against  them, 
or  Flanders  and  the  Rhine  from  being  threatened  with  invasion. 
"And  why  is  the  country  still  in  danger .'*"  he  asked.  "It  is 
not  that  we  lack  troops,  not  that  our  troops  are  wanting  in 
courage,  that  our  frontiers  are  not  better  fortified,  but  because 

*  Patriote  Franqais,  July  9,  1792.  The  article  was  signed  G.  D.  (Girey- 
Dupre).  2  Moniteur,  July  8,  1792. 


284  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

our  strength  is  paralyzed.  And  who  is  to  blame  for  this  fatal 
lethargy?  A  single  man  whom  the  nation  made  its  chief,  and 
whom  the  courtiers  have  made  its  enemy.  .  .  .  Bring  together 
all  these  facts :  The  aversion  of  the  cabinet  of  the  Tuileries  for 
hostile  measures;  its  silence  upon  the  coalition;  its  tardiness  in 
entering  Brabant;  its  indulgence  for  the  rebels  and  the  elec- 
tors; the  dismissal  of  the  patriot  ministers  who  had  brought 
about  the  invasion;  their  replacement  by  creatures  of  the  in- 
triguers who  opposed  the  war;  the  inaction  of  that  General 
Lafayette  who  was  responsible  for  them,  for  those  who  be- 
trayed us;  the  paralyzing  of  the  forces  of  Luckner;  the  refusal 
of  the  camp  of  two  thousand  men;  the  silence  regarding  the 
march  of  the  Prussians.  Consider  these  things  and  then  say 
that  there  does  not  exist  a  plan  of  conspiracy  against  France, 
in  favor  of  the  House  of  Austria,  against  liberty  in  favor  of  the 
court.  Say  that  the  center  of  it  is  not  to  be  found  in  that  court, 
in  the  executive  power,  in  its  agents."  In  \new  of  these  dan- 
gers, how  was  the  country  to  be  saved.'*  'NMiat  measures  must 
be  taken?  The  country  must  be  saved,  Brissot  declared,  not  by 
violent  measures,  but  by  means  of  the  constitution.  And  since 
the  constitution  pro\nded  that  a  king  who  had  retracted  his 
oath  should  be  considered  to  have  abdicated,  he  demanded 
that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  investigate  the  king's  con- 
duct. He  also  proposed  that  the  Assembly  should  declare 
enemies  of  the  nation  all  those  who  had  given  or  should  give 
the  king  pernicious  advice,  and  that  their  conduct  should  be 
investigated;  that  the  existing  ministry  no  longer  possessed 
the  confidence  of  the  nation.  And,  finally,  what  is  of  special 
importance  as  showing  Brissot's  attitude  toward  the  kind  of 
authority  afterward  put  in  force  by  the  Terror,  he  asked  for  the 
establishment  of  a  committee  of  general  security  to  examine  all 
accusations  of  crimes  against  the  general  safety  and  against 
the  constitution.  A  few  days  later  he  put  the  attack  in  more 
concrete  form  by  assailing  Chambonas,^  the  minister  for  foreign 

1  Discours  sur  les  causes  des  dangers  de  la  Patrie,  et  sur  les  mesures  a  prendre, 
prononcS  le  9  juillet,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    285 

affairs.  Chambonas,*  he  declared,  had  announced  to  the  diplo- 
matic committee  that  the  Piedmontese  and  Sardinian  troops 
arrayed  against  France  numbered  only  1200,  whereas,  accord- 
ing to  Montesquieu,-  there  were  56,000.  He  therefore  demanded 
that  Chambonas  be  called  on  for  an  explanation. 

Within  the  next  few  days  Brissot  showed  a  decided  change 
of  front,  which  gave  rise  to  grave  accusations  from  his  enemies 
and  much  explanation  then  and  afterwards  on  his  own  part. 
He  first  showed  his  change  of  position  in  his  speech  of  July  25, 
in  which,  apropos  of  Gensonne's  proposed  action  against  con- 
spirators, he  again  discussed  measures  for  the  safety  of  the 
state,  but  this  time  with  a  very  different  emphasis  from  that 
of  his  speech  of  July  9.^  He  now  laid  the  emphasis  not  on  the 
evil  deeds  of  the  king,  but  on  the  necessity  of  maintaining  the 
constitution  and  the  folly  of  establishing  a  republic.  "There  is 
no  better  means,"  he  declared,  "than  regicide  for  making 
royalty  eternal.  No;  it  is  not  by  the  revolting  murder  of  one 
individual  that  royalty  will  ever  be  destroyed.  The  resurrec- 
tion of  royalty  in  England  was  due  to  the  punishment  of 
Charles  I;  it  disgusted  the  people  and  brought  them  to  the 
feet  of  his  son.  If,  then,  these  republican  regicides  exist,  it 
must  be  confessed  that  they  were  very  stupid  republicans  — 
the  kind  of  persons  whom  kings  might  well  pay  for  the  service 
they  render  in  making  republicanism  forever  execrable.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  if  that  party  of  regicides  exists,  if  there  exist 

*  Victoi^Scipion  Louis  Joseph  de  la  Garde,  marquis  de  Chambonas,  was 
bom  about  1750.  He  was  the  mayor  of  Sens  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  became  an  officer  in  the  army.  The  16th  of  June,  1792,  he  was  made 
minister  for  foreign  affairs  in  place  of  Dumouriez,  but  in  consequence  of  denun- 
ciations presented  by  the  Assembly  he  soon  resigned  and  after  the  10th  of 
August  emigrated  to  London.  He  returned  to  France  at  the  Restoration,  and 
died  in  1829. 

^  .\nne-PieiTe,  marquis  de  Montesquieu,  was  bom  in  1739.  He  was  a  deputy 
from  the  nobility  of  Paris  to  the  Constituent  Assembly  and  an  officer  in  the  army. 
In  ^^ew  of  accusations  brought  against  him,  he  had  to  leave  France  in  1792. 
See  Moniteiir,  July  24,  1792. 

'  Gensonne's  proposal  was  to  give  to  the  municipalities  the  right  of  arresting 
and  examining  citizens  who  should  be  accused  of  plots  against  the  general 
safety  of  the  state  and  against  the  constitution.  Moniteur,  July  27,  1792. 


286  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

men  who  want  to  establish  the  repubhc  immediately,  upon  the 
debris  of  the  constitution,  the  knife  of  the  law  ought  to  fall 
upon  them."  ^ 

The  next  day,  July  26,  he  spoke  again,  this  time  apropos  of 
a  proposed  letter  of  criticism  to  the  king  presented  by  Guadet. 
While  he  supported  the  strictures  on  the  king's  conduct  con- 
tained in  Guadet's  letter  and  denounced  the  king  as  opposed 
to  the  Revolution,  he  counseled  delay  in  bringing  about  his 
dethronement.  "I  know,  gentlemen,"  he  declared,  "that  if 
it  were  well  proved  that  the  king  was  in  agreement  with 
enemies  without,  not  to  try  him,  not  to  condemn  him  would 
be  a  crime  of  high  treason  against  the  people.  But  I  know  also 
that  what  an  anti-revolutionary  king  would  desire  for  the  full- 
est possible  success  would  be  a  hasty  step  on  the  part  of  the 
Assembly,  a  \nolent  measure  which  would  not  have  the  general 
support  of  the  nation.  And  why?  Because  if  the  king  were  con- 
demned in  the  heat  of  anger,  carelessly  or  with  too  great  haste, 
the  majority  of  the  nation  which  desires  justice  for  all,  which 
desires  that  the  enactment  of  justice  be  preceded  by  a  severe 
examination,  the  majority,  I  say,  might  blame  you,  and 
though  it  might  not  entirely  acquit  the  king,  yet  it  might  fail 
to  support  you  in  your  further  measures."  ^ 

The  impression  conveyed  by  this  speech  was  that  Brissot 
was  opposed  to  dethronement.  In  ^^ew  of  his  recent  and  vehe- 
ment attacks  on  the  king,  Brissot's  present  position  suggested 
that  he  had  either  changed  his  mind  with  surprising  sudden- 
ness, or  that  he  was  insincere.  His  audience  thought  the  latter, 
for  there  were  cries  of  "Down  w^th  the  double-faced  rogue!" 
while  one  energetic  spectator  in  the  gallery,  with  unfortu- 
nately good  aim,  threw  two  plums  at  him.^ 

Various  explanations  of  his  action  have  been  given.    Ac- 

^  Opinion  de  J.  P.  Brissot  sur  les  mesures  de  police  gSnirale  proposees  par  M. 
GensonnL 

2  Opirnon  sitr  la  marche  ci  suivre  en  examinant  la  question  de  la  dicheance  el  les 
autres  mesures,  prononcS  le  26  juillet,  1792. 

'  See  Aulard,  Orateurs  de  la  Legislative,  i,  204,  note.  "II  Jut  frappS  de  dettx 
prunes  [dit  un  journal]  quune  main  vigoureuse  lui  avoit  lancees  du  haul  des 
tribunes." 


MEMBER  OF  THE   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    287 

cording  to  Soulavie,i  he  (SouIa\ne)  had  been  asked  —  so  he 
says  in  his  memoirs  —  by  Chambonas  to  try  to  induce  Brissot 
by  means  of  a  bribe  to  moderate  his  efforts  for  dethronement, 
but  feeling  sure  that  this  method  would  fail,  he  advised 
Chambonas,  instead  of  tn-ing  to  bribe  Brissot,  to  endeavor  to 
persuade  him  to  give  up  his  efforts  for  the  dethronement,  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  injure  his  party.  Chambonas  took 
his  advice,  Soulavie  adds,  and  succeeded. - 

If  the  testimony  given  at  the  trial  of  Brissot  is  to  be  be- 
lieved, he  not  only  abandoned  his  efforts  at  dethronement  by 
constitutional  means,  but  tried  to  hinder  the  efforts  of  others, 
and  when  active  measures  were  proposed  attempted  to  put  a 
stop  to  them.^  According  to  Bertrand  de  Molleville,  he  de- 
manded twelve  million  livres  as  his  price  for  preventing  the 
insurrectionary  movement.*  This  charge,  however,  is  abso- 
lutely uncorroborated  and  is  a  sheer  absurdity.^ 

*  Jean  Louis  Girard  Soulavie  was  bom  in  1752.  At  the  time  of  the  French 
Revolution  he  was  vncar-general  of  the  diocese  of  Chalons.  He  became  an 
ardent  revolutionist,  was  one  of  the  first  priests  to  marry,  was  connected  with 
the  revolution  in  Geneva,  and  narrowly  escaped  the  scaffold  as  an  alleged 
agent  of  Robespierre.  The  latter  part  of  his  life  he  devoted  to  literary  work. 
His  best-known  publication  is  Memoires  historiquea  et  politiques  du  regne  de 
Louis  XVI. 

^  "Je  roiis  promets  le  secret,  et  vous  assure  que  si  rous  prenez  Brissot  par  la 
crainie  de  ce  qui  peut  arriver  a  son  parti,  si  la  naiion  n'adhere  pas  a  son  opinion 
8ur  la  dicheance,  vous  en  obtiendrez  par  la  pcur  ce  qiie  rous  voudrez,  plutot  que 
par  des  esphances  .  .  .  Je  pense  que  si  on  dit  a  Brissot  qu'il  est  entre  deux  feux, 
entre  les  Jacobins  ^nergiques  et  les  royalistes,  et  qu'il  peut  en  manquant  sa  dS- 
chiance,  se  trouver  dans  le  position,  par  exemple,  des  reriseurs  de  1791,  vous 
pourrez  vous  le  gagner.  Faites  valoir  surtoui  la  puissance  de  la  constitution,  la 
minority  de  ses  ennemis  dans  le  Legislature,  le  changement  tous  les  six  mois  des 
opinions  et  de  Vesprit  public  en  France,  et  Vincertitude  de  risister,  en  cas  de 
dechiance,  au  parti  d'Orleans,  s'il  n'en  est  pas  I'agent ;  et  s'il  Vest  Vincertitude 
de  resister  aux  royalistes  de  17 88,  reunis  aux  constitutionnels  attaches  a  Louis 
XVI,  ayant  d'ailleurs  Lafayette  a  leur  tcte."  Soulavne,  Memoires,  vi,  430-31. 

Chambonas's  success,  as  far  as  he  personally  was  concerned,  was  only  par- 
tial, for,  on  August  4,  Brissot  again  attacked  him  with  the  charge  that  he  had 
misused  the  secret  funds  of  the  department  of  foreign  affairs.  Moniteur, 
August  5,  1792. 

»  Moniteur,  October  27,  1793. 

*  See  SoulaN-ie's  testimony  to  Brissot's  incorruptibility  mentioned  above. 
^  Memoires,  n,  139. 


288  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Even  at  the  time,  his  speech  of  July  26  created  such  a  furor 
that  when  it  was  printed  he  tried  to  conciliate  opinion  by  add- 
ing an  explanatory  note  in  which  he  declared  that  he  had  been 
misunderstood;  that  he  was  really  not  opposed  to  dethrone- 
ment, but  only  to  too  great  haste  in  bringing  it  about.  He  took 
this  stand,  he  subsequently  explained,  because  he  had  been 
brought  to  realize  that  public  opinion,  especially  in  the  prov- 
inces, was  not  ripe  for  dethronement,  and  while  striving  to 
check  too  precipitate  action  he  was  using  every  means  in  his 
power,  and  especially  his  newspaper,  to  educate  opinion  so  that 
it  might  be  prepared  for  dethronement.  This  explanation  of 
Brissot's  is  borne  out  by  a  dispatch  of  Earl  Gower,  who,  on 
July  27,  wrote  as  follows:  "The  Committee  of  Twenty-one, 
before  whom  that  general  [Montesquieu]  was  examined,  had 
agreed  to  report  a  Project  of  a  decree  to  declare  that  the  Crown 
was  forfeited,  but  upon  his  answering  them  that  not  only  every 
officer  but  every  soldier  would  oppose  them,  they  desisted. 
This  sufficiently  accounts  for  the  speech  made  by  M.  Brissot 
yesterday  in  the  Assembly.  It  does  not,  however,  follow  that 
from  the  abortion  of  this  scheme,  his  most  Christian  majesty 
is  to  be  considered  in  a  less  dangerous  situation  than  for- 
merly." ^ 

Deference  to  public  opinion  was,  nevertheless,  not  the  all- 
sufficient  explanation  of  the  action  of  Brissot  and  his  Girondin 
friends  in  the  eyes  of  their  enemies,  the  Jacobins.  The  real 
reason,  the  latter  asserted,  was  that  the  Girondins  wanted  to 
get  themselves  back  into  office,  and,  just  so  long  as  they  saw 
any  chance  of  doing  it,  they  were  willing  to  support  the  mon- 
archy. Formal  accusation  of  such  intent  was  made  against 
them  and  especially  against  Brissot  at  the  Jacobin  Club  on 
August  1,  by  M.  Anthoine.^  The  Girondins  did,  indeed,  make 
a  bid  for  position  and  power  in  the  famous  memoir  of  July  20 
which  Yergniaud,  Gensonne,  and  Guadet  sent  to  the  king. 
After  exhorting  him  to  strengthen  his  own  position,  which  they 

^  This  dispatch  was  dated  July  27,  1792.  Dispatches  of  Earl  Gower,  203. 
*  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  iv,  169. 


MEMBER  OF  THE   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    289 

had  themselves  so  successfully  undermined  but  a  few  weeks 
before,  they  skillfully  insinuated  that  the  best  way  to  do  it 
would  be  to  dismiss  inefficient  ministers  and  to  recall  to  the 
ministry  "well-known  patriots."  ^ 

Brissot's  wavering  attitude  not  only  gave  occasion  for  at- 
tack to  his  enemies,  but  caused  distress  to  at  least  one  of  his 
friends  —  Madame  Roland.  On  July  31  she  \^Tote  to  him  com- 
plaining of  his  silence  at  the  Assembly,  and  tried  in  vain  to  stir 
him  to  take  the  lead  in  decisive  action.  To  her,  it  was  a  great 
opportunity  for  a  great  man  and  she  ardently  desired  that 
Brissot  might  see  and  seize  his  chance.- 

In  the  case  of  Lafayette,  Brissot  did  seize  his  chance,  and 
when  Lafayette,  in  his  letter  read  before  the  Assembly  on  the 
18th  of  June,  opposed  the  dismissal  of  the  Girondin  ministry 
and  denounced  the  Jacobin  Clul),  Brissot  backed  up  his  previ- 
ous assertions  that  he  was  no  friend  of  Lafayette's  by  a  prompt 
and  spirited  attack.  In  spite  of  his  own  quarrels  with  the 
Jacobins,  he  resented  Lafayette's  arraignment  of  that  body 
as  a  \4olation  of  freedom  of  speech  and  objected  still  more 
vehemently  to  his  e\ndent  sympathy  with  the  king.^'  Mter 
the  events  of  June  20,  this  sympatliy  became  more  e\ndent 
and  took  the  form  of  active  measures.  Lafayette  presumed 
to  leave  his  army  without  permission,  came  to  Taris,   and 

I  See  the  account  by  Guadet,  Moniteur,  January  5,  1793.  Brissot  did  not 
sign  tbis  memoir,  but  note  his  approval  (see  above)  of  Guadet's  proposed  letter 
to  the  king  which  contained  much  the  same  ideas. 

«  Lettrcs.  ii,  -129.  Whether  stirred  by  Madame  Roland's  appeal  or  assured 
by  the  king's  refusal  to  listen  to  Girondin  advice  that  there  was  nothing  to  be 
gained  in  longer  propping  up  the  throne,  Brissot  spoke  with  open  contempt 
on  August  5  of  those  residents  of  the  district  of  the  FiUes-Saint-Thomas  who 
were  opposed  to  dethronement.   Patriate  Fran^ais,  August  5,  1792. 

3  "C'e«/  le  coup  le  plu^  violent  quon  ait  encore  porte  a  liberte,  coup  d  autant 
plus  dangereux,  qu'il  est  parte  par  un  general  qui  se  vante  d'avoir  une  armSe  d, 
lui  de  nefaire  quun  avec  son  annee ;  d' autant  plus  dangereux,  encore,  que  cet 
hokme  a  su,  par  sa  feinte  moderation  et  par  ses  artifices,  se  conserver  un  parti, 
meme  pamii  Ics  hammer  qui  aiment  dvement  la  libertd  ;  sa  lettre  le  demasque  ..  . 

"Oui  tons  les  hommes  qui  idolatrent  la  liberte  orU  du  etre  revoltes  de  cette  lettre. 
Conserver  encore  quelque  estime  pour  M.  Lafayette  apres  V avoir  eniendue  c  est 
en  etre  indigne  soi-mime?  "  Pairiote  Frangais,  June  19,  1792. 


290  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

after  having  offered  his  services  to  the  royal  family,  ap- 
peared before  the  Assembly  on  June  28  and  'demanded  the 
punishment  of  the  instigators  of  the  plot  of  June  20.^  ^^^le^e- 
upon  the  Assembly  tried  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  against 
him.  Again  Brissot  saw  his  opportunity  and  the  same  day  he 
attacked  Lafayette  at  the  Jacobin  Club,  solemnly  engaging 
to  prove  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly  that  Lafayette  was  guilty 
of  high  treason. 2  On  July  29,  he,  with  Guadet,  Gensonne,  and 
several  other  members  of  the  Assembly,  put  on  record  a  signed 
declaration  containing  evidence,  based  on  statements  of  Mar- 
shal Luckner,  that  Lafayette  intended  to  march  on  Paris. ^  The 
4th  of  August  Brissot  tried  to  hasten  matters  by  demanding  a 
report  from  the  committee  to  which  the  conduct  of  Lafayette 
had  been  referred,^  and  on  August  8  he  made  his  promised  at- 
tack, and  denounced  Lafayette  in  unsparing  terms.  He  began 
by  saying  that  while  he  did  not  assert  that  Lafayette  was 
actually  in  concert  with  the  Austrians,  he  did  assert  that  if 
Lafayette  had  been  in  concert  with  them,  his  actions  would 
not  have  been  different  from  what  they  actually  were.  He 
further  declared  that  Lafayette  had  no  legal  right  to  present  a 
petition;  that  he  compromised  the  safety  of  the  state  in  lea\dng 
his  army;  that  if  the  Austrians  were  not  present  in  large  num- 
bers he  ought  to  have  attacked  them;  that  if  they  were  there 
in  large  numbers  it  was  treason  to  leave  the  army  in  danger; 
that  his  demand  for  the  suppression  of  popular  societies  was  an 
attempt  on  the  constitution ;  that  he  had  sought  to  intimidate 
and  degrade  the  legislature  and  to  make  a  Cromwell  of  him- 
self; and  that  in  view  of  these  facts  a  decree  of  censure  should 
be  passed  against  him.  In  spite  of  these  accusations  the  decree 
failed  of  enactment.^ 
1  Moniteur,  June  29,  1792. 

*  Journal  des  debate  de  la  SociitS  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution,  siance  du  j'eudi, 
juin  28,  1792. 

^  Bihliotheque  de  la  Chambre  des  depuiSs ;  collection  des  affaires  du  Temps, 
t.  158,  n.  30  bis,  quoted  in  Archives  parlementaires,  XLvn,  268. 

*  Moniteur,  August  5,  1792. 

'  See  the  Patriate  Frangais  of  August  10,  for  scathing  allusions  to  the  weak- 
ness, the  corruption,  and  the  imbecility  of  those  who  voted  against  the  decree. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    291 

Meanwhile,  in  regard  to  the  king's  proposed  dethronement, 
while  the  Girondins  were  holding  back,  the  Jacobins  acted. 
The  latter  overthrew  the  regular  municipal  authorities,  set  up 
an  insurrectionary  commune  of  their  own,  and  by  its  aid 
brought  on  the  insurrection  which  culminated  in  the  sack  of 
the  Tuileries.  The  insurrection  once  accomplished,  the  Giron- 
dins were  not  slow  in  pointing  out  that  they  had  made  it  in- 
evitable and  in  claiming  the  credit  for  it.  To  this  the  Jacobins 
retorted  that  though  the  Girondins  might  have  had  some  share 
in  preparing  the  way  for  it,  when  it  came  to  decisive  action  it 
was  they  themselves  who  deserved  the  credit.  The  Girondins 
were,  however,  still  in  a  majority  in  the  Assembly,  and  since 
it  was  the  Assembly  which  took  the  legal  steps  made  necessary 
by  the  insurrection,  —  the  suspension  of  the  king,  the  over- 
throw of  the  ministry,  the  appointment  of  a  new  ministrj%  and 
the  calling  of  a  convention,  —  they  might  well  claim  that  their 
part  in  the  crisis  was  an  important  one. 

In  the  hurried  discussion  of  these  pivotal  measures  Brissot's 
voice  was  heard  several  times.  In  order  that  the  papers  of  the 
department  of  foreign  affairs  might  be  secured,  he  asked  that 
seals  be  placed  on  the  house  of  Bonne-Carrere  where  they  were 
kept,  and  in  making  the  motion  he  took  occasion  to  allude 
to  Bonne-Carrere  as  a  person  of  detestable  reputation  and  to 
remind  the  Assembly  that  he  had  managed  to  get  himself 
appointed  ambassador  to  the  United  States— an  allusion 
which  led  to  the  passing  of  a  further  decree  for  the  revocation 
of  Bonne-Carrere's  appointment.  ^  More  important  than  the 
matter  of  an  individual  ambassador  was  the  reorganization  of 
the  ministry.  Vergniaud  had  made  a  motion  for  such  reor- 
ganization, to  which  Brissot  objected  that  it  should  be  pre- 
ceded by  a  vote  of  lack  of  confidence  in  the  existing  ministry.^ 
With  the  new  ministry  itself  Brissot  was  greatly  pleased.  He 
evidently  saw  a  chance  for  a  renewal  of  his  former  influence, 

1  Moniteur,  August  12,  1792.    For  Brissot's  previous  relations  with  Bonne- 
Carrere  see  p.  280. 

2  Moniteur,  August  12,  1792. 


292  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

an  expectation  which  is  significantly  expressed  in  a  note  to 
Madame  Roland,  probably  of  about  August  10:  "I  send  for 
her  husband  and  for  Lanthenas,"  it  read,  "a  list  of  patriots 
to  whom  places  are  to  be  given.  For  he  ought  always  to  have 
such  a  list  before  him."  ^  Brissot  had  managed  Roland  before, 
and  it  was  therefore  natural  that  he  should  rejoice  on  his  re- 
turn to  office.  To  the  placing  of  Danton  in  the  ministry  it 
would  not  have  been  surprising  if  he  had  made  some  objection, 
but,  when  asked  by  Fabre  d'Eglantine  whether  he  was  opposed 
to  Danton,  he  replied  that  on  the  contrary  he  approved  of  him 
and  that  his  appointment  was  the  seal  of  their  reconciliation. ^ 
It  was  far,  however,  from  being  the  seal  of  reconciliation 
between  the  Assembly  and  the  Commune.  The  practical  ques- 
tion was  who  was  to  control  the  power  which  had  been  taken 
from  the  king;  in  other  words,  who  was  to  rule  France  till  the 
Convention  should  meet.  The  Assembly  asserted  that  this 
task  was  its  business  and  its  business  exclusively,  while  the 
insurrectionary  Commune  maintained  quite  as  vigorously 
that  it  also  had  a  right  to  take  part  in  the  direction  of  affairs. 
There  thus  resulted  a  furious  struggle  between  the  Assembly  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  insurrectionary  Commune  on  the  other. 
The  leadership  in  the  Assembly,  both  in  its  constructive  work 
and  in  its  struggle  with  the  Commune,  was  largely  directed  by 
the  Committee  of  Twenty-one.  This  committee  had  grown 
out  of  a  special  committee  organized  on  March  6  and  9,  1792, 
and  known  as  the  Committee  of  Twelve.  On  the  18th  of  June 
its  members  were  increased  to  twenty-one.^  It  now  became 
the  most  important  committee  of  the  Assembly  and,  as  has  been 

*  Quoted  by  Perroud  {Letires  de  Madame  Roland,  u,  734,  and  note,  app.) 
from  a  report  of  Brival,  text  corrected  according  to  Lanthenas.  See  also  Cor- 
respondance,  293.  Goetz-Bemstein  differs  from  M.  Perroud  in  that  he  as- 
signs this  note  to  the  time  of  Roland's  first  ministry.  For  his  reasons  for  so 
doing  see  his  La  Diplomatic  de  la  Gironde,  173,  note. 

*  Aulard,  Histoire  politique,  219.  Quoted  from  testimony  at  the  trial  of  the 
Girondins.   See  Moniteur,  October  27,  1793,  supplement. 

^  Aulard,  Recueil  des  actes  du  Comite  du  Salut  public.  It  was  also  known  as 
the  Commission  extraordinaire.  Proces-verbaux  de  la  Legislative,  August  12, 
1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    293 

pointed  out,  it  played  a  role  analogous  to  that  of  the  great 
Committee  of  Public  Safety  under  the  Convention.  Its  work 
was  of  wide  scope  and  included  measures  on  foreign  affairs,  the 
provinces,  the  army,  property,  the  Church,  and  the  family. 
On  August  12,  Brissot  was  added  to  this  most  important  com- 
mittee,^ in  which  he  took  an  active  part  and  was  at  one  time 
its  president. 2  He  indorsed  its  action  in  his  journal,  contended 
in  its  behalf  against  his  old  enemies,  ]Marat  and  Robespierre, 
presented  its  reports,  and  even  when  he  did  not  appear  promi- 
nently to  represent  it,  did  much  to  direct  its  course. 

Among  the  first  tasks  of  the  Assembly  was  to  provide  against 
reaction  in  favor  of  royalty,  ^^^lat  they  most  feared,  and  with 
good  reason,  was  that  Lafayette  might  march  upon  Paris.  In 
spite  of  the  failure  of  the  Assembly  on  August  8  to  bring  a  de- 
cree against  him,  feeling  had  been  growing.  The  news  that  he 
had  arrested  the  commissioners  sent  to  the  army  brought  mat- 
ters to  a  crisis,  and  on  August  19,  urged  on  by  the  Commune, 
the  Committee  of  Twenty-one  presented  and  secured  the  pas- 
sage of  a  decree  declaring  Lafayette  guilty  of  high  treason.' 
In  commenting  on  this  Brissot  summed  up  his  opinion  of  La- 
fayette with  unsparing  severity.  "See,"  he  wrote,  "to  what 
a  man  has  been  brought  by  ambition  badly  directed  and 
sustained  by  little  ability,  an  incurable  spirit  of  intrigue,  the 
popularity  of  a  courtier,  ill-directed  schemes,  rascality  without 
cleverness,  a  policj',  which,  so  to  speak,  lived  from  hand  to 
mouth,  a  man  whom  fortune  persisted  in  making  play  the  part 
of  a  great  personage."  ^ 

Another  source  of  danger,  the  Assembly  felt,  was  in  the  ad- 
visers of  the  king;  and  having  dealt  with  Lafayette  they  next 

^  Proces-verbaux  de  la  Legislative,  August  12,  1792. 

^  Bire,  La  Legende  des  Girondins,  97.  Vatel,  Vergniaud,  n,  127.  Neither 
\*Titer  cites  his  authority;  considering  the  importance  of  the  position,  this  is  a 
matter  of  note,  but  it  is  perhaps  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  min- 
utes of  the  committee  after  August  10  have  disappeared.  See  Aulard,  Recueil 
des  actes  du  Comite  du  Salut  public,  i.  Introduction,  p.  liii. 
,    »  Moniteur,  August  21,  1792. 

*  Patriate  Frangais,  August  20,  1792. 


294  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

turned  their  attention  to  Montmorin.  The  preceding  May 
accusations  had  been  brought  against  Montmorin  by  Brissot 
of  being  devoted,  not  merely  to  the  king,  but  to  the  Austrian 
government  and  the  emigres.^  After  the  10th  of  August  he  had 
hidden  in  order  to  escape  arrest,  but  he  was  now  discovered, 
and  on  the  proposal  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty-one  haled 
before  the  Assembly,  where  Brissot  reiterated  his  former 
charges  against  him.  He  charged  him  particularly  with  having 
entered  into  a  treasonable  correspondence  with  the  Count 
d'Artois  and  with  having  failed  to  communicate  important 
correspondence  to  the  Assembly.  This  time  the  Assembly  took 
definite  action  and  decreed  that  Montmorin  be  sent  to  prison.^ 

The  Assembly  next  proceeded  to  deal  with  the  Swiss  troops, 
a  matter  which  demanded  immediate  attention  because  of  the 
part  which  the  Swiss  had  taken  in  defending  the  Tuileries 
against  the  mob  on  the  10th  of  August.  The  report  of  the  com- 
mittee was  presented  by  Brissot,  who  argued  that  free  men 
ought  to  take  the  responsibility  of  their  own  defense;  that  the 
agreement  for  the  service  of  the  Swiss  in  France  had  been  made 
by  despotic  kings,  less  with  the  purpose  of  defending  the  nation 
against  foreign  powers  than  of  defending  themselves  against 
the  French  people;  and  finally,  that  the  action  of  the  Swiss 
troops  on  the  10th  of  August  made  their  further  continuance  in 
the  service  of  France  impossible.  A  decree  was  accordingly 
passed  for  their  dismissal.^ 

While  dealing  with  the  participants  in  the  10th  of  August, 
the  Assembly  had  also  to  justify  the  events  of  that  day  to  for- 
eign powers.  On  the  suspension  of  the  king,  the  representatives 
of  almost  all  foreign  powers  had  left  Paris,  and  the  temporary 
government  thus  found  itself  in  a  most  embarrassing  situa- 
tion with  respect  to  the  governments  of  Europe.  With  a  view 
to  conciliating  foreign  opinion,  the  Assembly  decreed  that  a 

1  See  p.  273.  2  Moniteur,  August  23  and  24,  1792. 

'  Ihid.,  August  22,  1792.  Also  Rapport  fait  au  nom  de  la  Commission  ex- 
traordinaire des  Comites  diplomatique  et  militaire  le  SO  aoiU,  1792,  sur  le 
licenciemeni  des  regiments  suisses  au  service  de  la  France. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATR^  ASSEMBLY    295 

defense  of  the  events  of  August  10  be  drawn  up  and  sent  to 
the  powers  which  had  declared  their  intention  of  preserving 
neutrality.  This  address,  which  was  prepared  and  presented 
by  Brissot,  was  an  able  piece  of  work.  The  bloodshed  of  the 
10th  of  August,  he  admitted,  was  to  be  regretted,  but  the  court 
alone,  by  ordering  the  soldiers  to  fire  on  the  people,  was  to 
blame  for  it.  It  but  precipitated  the  suspension  of  the  king, 
which  was  already  under  consideration.  That  suspension  was 
due  to  a  long  series  of  acts  on  his  part,  particularly  in  connec- 
tion with  foreign  powers,  which  had  made  it  evident  beyond 
doubt  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  Revolution.  But  although 
the  king  was  suspended  and  a  convention  summoned,  no  an- 
archy existed,  and  the  government  was  still  being  carried  on 
in  accordance  with  the  constitution.  Foreign  powers,  there- 
fore, had  no  reason  to  withdraw  their  ambassadors  from 
France  or  to  break  off  friendly  relations  with  her.  Then  turn- 
ing to  England  he  made  a  particularly  skillful  appeal.  "If 
France  has  not  the  right  to  suspend  the  head  of  her  executive 
power,  we  must  conclude  that  the  English  are  rebels  and  that 
the  House  of  Hanover  is  a  usurping  dynasty.  Surely  there  is 
no  Englishman,  no  intelligent  man,  who  could  sustain  such  a 
doctrine.  The  French  nation,  therefore,  is  far  from  fearing  a 
hostile  attitude  on  the  part  of  England;  she  believes  in  the  as- 
surances of  its  government,  she  believes  in  the  loyalty  and 
love  of  the  English  people,  she  believes  that  when  the  court  of 
St.  James  shall  have  brought  its  conduct  more  into  line  with 
right  principles  it  vdW  be  convinced  that  the  French  nation 
alone  has  the  right,  through  its  representatives,  of  passing 
judgment  upon  the  fate  of  its  first  public  functionary,  upon 
the  fate  of  its  government,  that  no  power  on  earth  has  the 
right  of  interfering  in  its  decisions."  ^ 

At  the  same  time  that  the  Assembly  was  protesting  against 

interference  from  without  she  was  taking  further  measures 

to  check  opposition  to  the  Revolution  from  within  by  a  decree 

against  the  non-juring  clergy.    This  decree,  which  was  more 

'  Projet  de  declaration  de  I'Assemblie  nationale,  5. 


296  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

rigorous  than  anything  yet  attempted,  provided  that  all  non- 
juring  priests  must  leave  France  ^\-ithin  fifteen  days  under 
penalty  of  deportation  to  French-Guiana.  AMiile  Brissot  does 
not  appear  to  have  actively  opposed  this  measure,  he  spoke 
of  it  with  some  reservation  and  suggested  that  there  was  danger 
that  the  innocent  might  be  punished  instead  of  the  guilty 
and  that  the  priest  to  whom  the  taking  of  the  oath  was  a  vio- 
lation of  his  conscience  would  suffer  instead  of  the  violent  and 
dangerous  anti-revolutionist.  ^ 

In  regard  to  another  question,  concerning  the  Church, 
Brissot  was  more  radical,  namely,  the  decree  facilitating  di- 
vorce. His  paper  at  least  spoke  of  it  in  terms  of  unmeasured 
approval,  as  "the  work  of  superstition  overturned,  the  pre- 
judices of  many  centuries  destroyed,  nature  triumphant  over 
the  Church  of  Rome,  the  hea\'y  chains  of  Hymen  changed  for 
garlands  of  flowers,  morals  regenerated,  and  conjugal  fidelity 
established  on  the  foundations  of  equality  and  the  reciprocity 
of  duties  as  well  as  of  rights."  ^ 

Radical  and  rapid  as  was  the  work  of  the  Assembly,  it  was 
not  suflSciently  so  to  suit  the  Commune,  especially  in  its  atti- 
tude toward  the  reactionaries.  The  Commune  therefore  pro- 
ceeded to  dictate  to  the  Assembly,  an  interference  which  the 
Assembly  naturally  resented,  and  which  led  to  bitter  conflict. 
The  first  clash  came  about  over  the  establishment  of  a  special 
court,  which  the  Commune  kept  demanding  and  which  the 
Assembly  fought  step  by  step.  As  a  member  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Twenty-one,  Brissot  was  in  the  forefront  of  the  fight. 
On  the  11th  of  August  the  Assembly  had  taken  steps  toward  the 
formation  of  a  court-martial  to  try  the  Swiss  for  their  part  in 
the  bloodshed  of  the  preceding  day.^  This,  however,  did  not 
satisfy  the  Commune,  as  the  jurisdiction  of  such  a  court  would 
presumably  be  limited  to  those  immediately  concerned  with  the 
actual  violence,  and  did  not  extend  to  conspirators  behind 
the  scenes.    On  the  14th  of  August,  therefore,  the  Commune 

1  Patriate  Franqais,  August  25,  1792.  *  Ibid.,  September  1,  1792. 

*  Moniteur,  August  13,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    297 

sent  a  deputation  which  demanded  to  know  what  action  the 
Assembly  intended  to  take  and  added  that  if  it  did  not  take 
immediate  action,  they  (the  deputation)  would  wait  until  it 
did.i  The  Assembly  naturally  protested  against  such  a  demand, 
as  insulting  to  its  dignity,  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  intimi- 
dated into  some  concession  in  decreeing  that  each  of  the  sec- 
tions of  Paris  might  choose  two  jures  d'acctisatioyi  and   two 
jures  de  jugemmt.    This  halfway  measure  did  not  satisfy  the 
Commune,  and  the  next  day  the  Commune  again  sent  a  deputa- 
tion headed  by  Robespierre,  which  demanded  in  no  measured 
terms  the  establishment  of  a  special  court  in  which  the  ac- 
cused should  be  judged  directly  by  commissioners  chosen  by 
the  sections  and  from  whose  decision  there  should  be  no  appeal. 
Brissot  now  came  to  the  front  and  in  an  eloquent  speech,  in 
which  he  represented  the  Committee  of  Twenty-one,  declared 
that  such  a  court  would  be  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  court- 
martial  and  as  such  would  involve  a  violation  of  the  principles 
of  the  constitution;  and  that,  in  preserving  the  constitutional 
forms  of  trial  and  at  the  same  time  in  adding  new  jurors  to  be 
chosen  directlv  by  the  sections,  due  provision  had  been  made 
for  rendering  justice  more  impartial  and  more  rapid.  "Doubt- 
less forms  stUl  more  rapid  might  have  been  used,"  he   ad- 
mitted, "but  they  belong  only  to  despotism;  despotism  alone 
can  employ  them,  because  it  does  not  fear  to  dishonor  itself 
by  cruelty;  but  a  free  people  desires  to  be  and  must  be  ]ust 
even  in  its  vengeance."  ^ 

One  further  point  the  committee  was  willing  to  concede, 
namelv,  that  the  right  of  appeal  be  done  away  xvith.  Jhe  As- 
sembly therefore,  voted  in  accordance  with  Brissot  s  report 
that  the  demand  of  the  Commune  for  a  special  court  be  re- 
fused, but  that  the  right  of  appeal  be  abolished.  The  Assembly 
could  thus  flatter  itself  that  it  had  withstood  the  Commune. 
It  had,  however,  made  a  vital  concession,  and  when  the  Com- 
mune again  reiterated  its  demands,  it  gave  way  and  ordered  the 
estabhshment  of  a  special  tribunal.^ 

1  Moniteur,  August  17,  1792.  '  Ibid.,  August  17.  1792. 

»  Ibid.,  August  19,  1792. 


BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Brissot  again  came  into  conflict  with  the  Commune  on  its 
action  in  declaring  that  the  signers  of  the  two  petitions  of  the 
eight  thousand  and  the  twenty  thousand  should  be  declared 
incapable  of  holding  any  civil  oflSce  or  of  bearing  arms.^  These 
petitions  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  national  guard  of  Paris 
early  in  the  summer  of  1792,  in  protest  against  the  camp  of 
federes,  and  represented  the  hostility  of  the  bourgeois  element 
to  a  democratic  army.  The  decree  of  the  Commune  was  there- 
fore a  retaliation  upon  the  bourgeois.  It  was,  moreover,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Assembly,  a  usurpation  of  power,  and  when  the 
subject  came  up  Brissot  not  only  supported  the  motion  that 
the  petitions  be  burned,  but  demanded  that  the  citizens  who 
possessed  copies  of  them  should  be  asked  to  destroy  tliem  and 
that  any  one  who  should  attempt  to  make  use  of  them  for 
purposes  of  proscription  should  be  declared  an  unworthy 
citizen.  2 

Brissot  was  further  aroused  against  the  Commune  by  its 
treatment  of  his  colleague  in  the  management  of  the  Patriote 
Frangais,  Girey-Dupre.  The  Patriote  Frangais  had  been  most 
vehement  in  assailing  the  Commune,  and  on  the  30th  of  August, 
Girey-Dupre  was  summoned  before  the  Commune  to  answer 
for  its  strictures.  Hereupon  the  Assembly,  very-  angry  at  the 
assumption  of  such  power  by  the  Commune,  not  only  quashed 
the  summons,  and  called  to  its  own  bar  the  authorities  of  the 
Commune  and  censured  them,  but  ordered  a  new  municipal 
election  and  the  dissolution  of  the  Commune.  The  Commune, 
however,  refused  to  dissolve,  and  continued  to  send  out  its  de- 
crees all  over  France  and  to  dictate  terms  to  the  Assembly  and 
to  the  Committee  of  Twenty-one.  Brissot  was  highly  indignant 
at  such  conduct,  which  he  considered  a  base  usurpation  of 
power.  "As  long  as  the  temporary  commissioners,"  he  de- 
clared, "devoted  themselves  to  directing  the  revolution  of  the 
10th  of  August,  to  pursuing  the  conspirators  and  to  watching 
those  who  might  be  accused  of  being  conspirators,  the  patriots 

^  See  von  Sybel,  French  Revolution,  n,  63. 
*  Moniteur,  September  10,  1792. 


MEMBER  OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY    299 

saw,  without  being  disturbed,  the  exercise  of  power,  which, 
having  sprung  into  being  with  the  insurrection,  ought  to  perish 
with  it  and  be  lost  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  But  when 
we  saw  those  commissioners  prolong  their  dictatorial  authority, 
usurp  the  rights  of  the  Commune,  dissolve  and  create  again 
authorities  which  the  Commune  alone  had  the  right  to  create 
and  dissolve,  suspend  magistrates  chosen  and  loved  by  the 
people  —  in  short,  when  we  realized  that  they  were  domg 
things  which  even  extraordinary-  conditions  could  not  justify, 
then,  at  last,  good  citizens  opened  their  eyes,  and  perceived 
that  they  had  not  twice  conquered  liberty  in  order  to  hand  it 
over  to  intriguers,  and  that  they  ought  not  to  raise  upon  the 
ruins  of  royal  and  patrician  despotism  a  despotism  more  op- 
pressive and  more  hateful."  ^ 

The  Commune,  on  the  other  hand,  was  supported  by  Marat. 
In  a  placard  of  August  ^28  he  denounced  "the  infamous  efforts 
of  such  men  as  Brissot,  Condorcet,  Vergniaud,  and  Guadet." 
They  had  written  to  all  the  pro\nnces,  he  declared,  that  the 
National  Assembly  was  under  the  knife  of  the  Commune  of 
Paris,  and  their  object  in  so  doing  was  to  have  the  Convention 
removed  from  Paris  to  some  city  "gangrened  by  aristocracy," 
where,  they  flattered  themselves,  they  could  direct  its  opera- 
tions to  their  taste. - 

Further  and  more  serious  accusations  were  now  brought 
against  Brissot  and  the  other  Girondins;  namely,  that  they 
were  plotting  to  preserve  the  monarchy  while  overthrowing 
the  monarch,  and  to  put  upon  the  throne  either  the  Duke  of 
York,  second  son  of  the  king  of  England,  or  the  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick.   The  charges  went  all  the  way  from  an  assertion  that 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  August  30,  1792.  „     ,  ,,      ,  „  qri 

»  -Dans  un  placard  du  28  aout  1792  [ChevremonUJean  Paul  3/araMi  96] 
Marat  disait  que  ces  infdmes  [Brissot,  Condorcet,  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  etc.]  out 
-parte  la  sceleratesse  jusqua  Scrire,  dans  tons  les  departements,  que  I  Assemblee 
nationale  est  sous  le  couteau  de  la  Commune  de  Paris  dirigee  par  une  trentaine  de 
fadieux,  afin  de  faire  choix  de  quelque  ville  gangrenee  d' aristocratie  pour  siege  de 
la  Convention  nationale  qu'ils  se  flatient  de  mener  a  leur  gre.  Aulard,  Utsto^re 
'politique,  237,  note. 


300  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  Girondins  had  considered  these  men  as  possible  candidates 
for  the  throne  of  France  to  a  direct  charge  of  venaHty.^  Of  the 
latter  there  is  absolutely  no  proof.  The  accusation  took  defi- 
nite and  formal  shape  when,  on  the  evening  of  September  2, 
Billaud-Varennes  and  Robespierre  denounced  before  the  Com- 
mune a  plot  in  favor  of  the  Duke  of  Bruns^^nck.^  According 
to  his  own  account,  Brissot  was  charged  not  only  with  having 
plotted  to  deliver  France  to  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  but  of 
having  received  several  millions  for  that  purpose.  A  search 
was  accordingly  made  of  his  papers,  but  as  no  proof  was  found 
he  was  allowed  to  go  unmolested. ^  The  significance  of  this 
action  lies  not  in  the  charge  itself,  but  in  the  fact  that  it  was 
made  at  the  time  of  the  massacres  of  September,  when  all  sus- 
pected royalists  were  in  imminent  danger  of  losing  their  lives. 
That  the  members  of  the  Commune  should  have  made  such 
a  charge  at  this  moment  is  an  evidence  that  they  regarded 

^  Petion,  in  his  Discours  sur  V accusation  intentSe  contre  Robespierre,  denies 
in  reply  to  the  reported  accusation  of  Robespierre,  that  Brissot  favored  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick.  Aulard,  in  his  Histoire  politique  (p.  209,  note),  says: 
"Carra,  soit  dans  les  Annates  pafriotiqnes  soit  a  la  tribune  des  Jacobins,  avait, 
d  mots  converts,  dcsigne  le  due  d'York  et  due  de  Brunsmck,  cmnme  des  candidates 
possibles  {et  acceptablcs)  au  trone  de  France."  See  Acte  d' accusation  rSdige  par 
Arnar  contre  les  Girondins,  15-17.  See  also  Paganel,  who  represents  a  moderate 
point  of  view.  "A  une  epoque  ou.  V existence  politique  de  la  France  couroit  les 
plus  grands  dangers,  lorsquil  s'agissoit  de  renverser  le  trone  ou  de  remettre  le 
sceptre  constitutionnel  dans  une  main  puissante  et  protectrice,  Brissot  proposa 
aux  hmnmes  influens  d'un  comite  qui  regloit  les  deliberations  de  V Assemble 
Ugislative,  unfils  de  George  et  la  constitution  anglaise,  sous  la  garantie  du  roi  et 
du  parlement.  Ce  fait  est  certain  ;  cependant  il  n'existe  aucitne  preuve  directe  du 
crime  de  iraJiison."  Paganel,  Essai  kistorique,  ii,  232.  Goetz-Bemstein,  p.  276, 
note,  quotes  from  Gollz  to  Frederick  William,  March  26,  1792  (Prussian 
archives):  "La  populace  devient  de  plus  en  plus  insolente.  .  .  .  Cela  accredite 
une  opinion,  que  pourtant  je  ne  partage  pas  encore,  que  V Angleterre,  par  Brissot 
et  autres,  paye  la  tribune  pour  maintenir  la  confusion  en  France." 

2  According  to  M.  Aulard  (Histoire  politique,  253-55),  the  Proces-verbaux  de 
la  commune  (ed.  Tourneux,  81)  does  not  give  the  names  of  the  alleged  in- 
stigators of  the  plot,  but  according  to  Brissot's  account  in  the  Patriote  Frangais 
of  September  4  he  was  one  of  those  designated. 

'  See  his  o^-n  account  of  the  matter  in  a  letter  addressed  to  his  fellow  citizens 
and  published  in  the  Patriote  Frangais,  September  4,  and  in  the  Moniteur 
of  September  7,  1792.  See  also  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  n,  434;  and  Brissot, 
MSmoires,  n,  247. 


MEMBER  OF  THE   LEGISLATIVE  ASSEMBLY   301 

Brissot  with  violent  animosity,  and  that  they  were  ready  to 
resort  to  accusations  which,  though  they  may  have  beUeved, 
they  were  unable  to  prove. 

As  to  Brissot's  attitude  toward   the  massacres,  accounts 
differ.    The  Girondins  subsequently  charged  the  Commune 
and  its  Jacobin  leaders  with  the  responsibility  and  at  the  same 
time  endeavored  to  clear  themselves  of  all  part  in  that  respon- 
sibility.   If  his  own  statement  in  his  Reponse  au  rappoH  de 
Saint-Just  is  to  be  relied  on,  Brissot  used  all  his  influence  to 
induce  Danton  to  put  a  stop  to  the  massacres.  ^  This  assertion 
receives  some  support  from  Peltier,  who  was  by  no  means  an 
admirer  of  Brissot.    According  to  his  account,  Brissot  be- 
sought Danton  to  know  if  there  were  not  some  means  of  pre- 
venting the  innocent  from  being  confounded  with  the  guilty.^ 
On  the  other  hand,  according  to  the  evidence  at  his  trial,  he  was 
present  at  the  house  of  Petion  when  two  of  the  assassins  came 
in  and  drank  with  Petion.'    Desmoulins  in  his  Histoire  des 
Bnssotins  makes  the  startling  insinuation  that  Brissot  on  the 
3d  of  September  had  in  the  presence  of  Danton  frankly  ex- 
pressed regret  that  his  bitter  enemy  Morande  had  been  for- 
gotten.   Such  an  occurrence  is,  however,  hardly  credible  and 
lacks  all  corroboration.  \Yhat  is  certain  is  that  the  Committee 
of  Twenty-one,  of  which  Brissot  was  president  and  m  which 
he  had  great  influence,  took  no  effective  action.  WTiether  it  was 
in  a  position  to  take  such  action  is,  however,  a  question. 

A  couple  of  weeks  later  the  Legislative  Assembly  came  to  an 
end.  Brissot's  interest  in  the  Revolution  during  this  period, 
both  in  regard  to  economic  and  social  matters  and  in  the 
struggle  for  democracy  and  a  republic,  is  perhaps  best  expressed 
in  the  Patriate  Frangais  of  September  22,  1792,  summing  up 
the  work  of  the  Assembly:  "WTien  posterity  shall  pass  in  re- 
view the  acts  of  this  second  assembly  it  ^411  see,  not  without 
gratitude,  that  it  has  overthrown  a  constitutional  Church  bmlt 

1  Memoires,  ii,  247.  ^ 

2  Peltier,  Histaire  de  la  Revolution  du  10  aout,  1,92,  ii,  489. 

3  Moniteur,  October  27,  1793;  supplement. 


302  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

upon  the  ruins  of  a  national  religion;  that  it  has  established 
divorce;  that  it  has  destroyed  the  odious  distinction  which 
obtained  between  the  white  man  and  his  black  or  mulatto  fel- 
low citizen;  that  it  has  ordered  the  sale  of  the  property  of  the 
emigres  in  small  portions  and  the  equal  division  of  communal 
property;  that  it  has  torn  down  the  aristocratic  barrier  raised 
between  Frenchman  and  Frenchman  by  the  title  of  active 
citizen;  that  it  has  sworn  to  hate  and  to  fight  kings  and  royalty; 
that  it  has  declared  with  courage  and  sustained  with  firmness 
the  war  against  the  house  of  Austria,  cruel  enemy  of  the  liberty 
of  Europe  and  the  curse  of  the  human  race;  finally,  pressed  be- 
tween despotism  which  was  seeking  to  raise  its  head  again  and 
anarchy  which  was  seeking  to  take  its  place,  it  has  handed  on 
intact  and  considerably  increased,  the  treasure  confided  to  it 
of  national  liberty."  ^ 

In  much  of  this  achievement  Brissot  had  been  an  active 
participant.  The  part  which  he  himself  played  had  greatly  in- 
creased his  reputation ;  it  had  also  increased  the  number  of  his 
enemies.  He  was  both  better  known  and  better  hated  at  the 
close  of  the  Legislative  Assembly  than  he  was  at  the  begin- 
ning. "Brissotin"  had  come  to  be  a  word  of  significant  mean- 
ing. His  advocacy  of  a  w^ar  which  was  threatening  to  become 
disastrous,  his  quarrel  with  Robespierre,  his  radical  measures 
in  regard  to  the  colonies,  the  attack  which  he  had  suffered  at 
the  hands  of  Desmoulins,  and  finally  his  conflict  wdth  the  Com- 
mune, had  aroused  enmity  against  him;  yet  the  prestige  which 
he  had  won  and  in  large  measure  still  retained,  as  a  leader  in 
matters  of  foreign  affairs,  his  influence  on  constitutional  legis- 
lation, his  influence  as  editor  of  the  Patriate  Frangais,  and  his 
official  position  as  president  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty -one 
gave  him  a  place  of  great  prominence  and  secured  his  election 
to  the  Convention. 

^  Quoted  in  Jaures,  Histoire  socialiste,  ii,  1315.  That  Jaures  in  such  a  work 
chooses  Brissot's  words  in  which  to  sum  up  the  work  of  the  Revolution  during 
the  Legislative  Assembly  is  in  itself  a  tribute  to  the  social  character  of  Brissot's 
interests. 


CHAPTER  XI 

BRISSOT   AND    THE   CONVENTION 

At  the  opening  of  the  Convention,  Brissot  had  reached  the 
climax  of  his  career.  His  leadership  was  recognized  both  at 
home  and  abroad.  French  newspapers  of  the  time,  for  ex- 
ample, refer  to  "Brissot  and  Company,"  "Brissot  and  his 
coterie,"  ^  while  the  English  Monthly  Review  for  1794  speaks 
of  him  as  the  leading  man  in  France  during  the  first  months  of 
the  Convention.-  ^Yithin  a  year,  however,  power  and  influence 
had  slipped  from  his  hands,  and  by  the  expulsion  of  his  party 
from  the  Convention  he  was  branded  with  failure.  The  reason 
for  his  failure  is  not  far  to  seek.  If  he  had  achieved  a  reputation 
as  an  exponent  of  the  war  policy  and  as  a  democratic  republi- 
can, he  had  also  aroused  enmity  on  account  of  his  opposition 
to  the  Commune  of  Paris.  This  enmity  now  told  increasingly 
against  him.  Moreover,  he  failed  to  perceive  —  and  this  was 
the  main  cause  of  his  failure  —  that  with  the  extension  of  the 
war  there  was  imperative  necessity  of  putting  aside  party  dif- 
ferences and  of  maintaining  greater  centralization  in  govern- 
ment. This  was  the  fatal  mistake  of  Brissot  and  the  Girondins; 
for  their  failure  to  see  the  necessity  for  union  and  centralization 
led  to  charges  of  federalism  and  royalty,  and  ultimately  brought 
the  party  to  its  fall. 

Brissot  was  elected  to  the  Convention  from  three  depart- 
ments,^ a  decided  contrast  to  his  election  to  the  Legislative 

1  Revolutions  de  Paris,  October  27,  November  3,  1792. 

2  Vol.  XIII,  p.  228. 

»  Of  nine  deputies  elected  from  the  Department  of  the  Eure-et-Loir,  Brissot 
was  chosen  the  second  on  the  5th  of  September.  Proces-verbal  de  Vassemblee 
Uectorale  du  departement  de  l' Eure-et-Loir  ;  Archives  Nationales,  C  178  (27). 

Of  nine  deputies  elected  from  the  Department  of  the  Loire,  Brissot  was 
chosen  the  ninth  on  the  6th  of  September.  Proces-verbal  de  VassemblSe  ilecto- 
rale  du  departement  du  Loire;  Archives  Nationales,  C  179  (43). 

Of  eleven  deputies  elected  from  the  Department  of  the  Eure,  Brissot  was 


304  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Assembly,  when  he  had  to  maintain  a  long  conflict  to  secure 
election  from  one.^  The  department  which  he  actually  repre- 
sented —  he  could  represent  only  one  —  was  Eure-et-Loir, 
presumably  because  his  election  there  occurred  first.  Not  only 
in  the  elections,  but  in  the  opening  days  of  the  Convention  he 
occupied  a  position  of  prominence,  being  chosen  on  Septem- 
ber 21  as  one  of  the  first  secretaries,-  and  on  October  11  as  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  the  Constitution,  and  on  the 
Diplomatic  Committee.^ 

The  first  step  taken  by  the  Convention  was  the  abolition  of 
royalty.  Although  Brissot  regretted  that  the  motion  had  not 
been  accompanied  by  discussion,  of  the  action  itself  he  en- 
thusiastically approved.  It  was  very  difficult,  he  declared, 
for  a  man  who  for  so  long  a  time  had  professed  republicanism 
to  refrain  from  pouring  out  his  soul  on  so  happy  an  occasion. 
He  not  only  rejoiced,  he  continued,  because  royalty  was  abol- 
ished and  the  yoke  of  the  tyrants  cast  off,  but  also  because  it 
had  been  done  by  that  class  of  citizens  known  as  the  "people." 
If  he  were  asked  why  most  partisans  of  republicanism  were 
to  be  found  among  the  people,  he  would  answer  it  was  because 
the  people  were  more  trustworthy,  had  more  good  sense,  fewer 
prejudices,  less  calculating  interest  than  other  classes.  It  was 
the  people  who  realized  that  since  an  hereditary  king  might  be 
tyrannical,  ignorant,  or  imbecile,  hereditary  royalty  was  un- 
necessary, in  fact  an  absurdity.  "What  the  people  thought," 
he  concluded,  "the  Convention  did;  the  French  are  finally 
men,  free  men  —  Francs."^ 

Since    Frenchmen   were    now  free,   the  Patriote  Frangais 

argued,  in  another  article  published  the  same  day,  it  was  only 

chosen  the  seventh  on  the  6th  day  of  September.  Proces-verbal  de  Vassemblee 
Mectorale  du  departement  de  VEure;  Archives  Nationales,  C  178  {^26). 

^  That  he  was  not  chosen  as  a  deputy  from  Paris  is  an  evidence  of  the 
strength  of  the  opposition  to  him  on  the  part  of  the  Commune.  See  Bourne, 
The  Revolutionary  Period  in  Europe,  183. 

^  Proces-verbaux  de  la  Convention,  September  21,  1792. 

»  Ibid.,  October  11,  1792. 

*  Patriote  Franqais,  September  22,  1792.  It  would  hardly  be  suspected  from 
this  effusion  that  Brissot  himself  had  counseled  delay  in  establishing  a  republic. 


THE  CONVENTION  SOS 

fitting  that  the  aristocracy  of  feudal  titles  should  be  abolished. 
Monsieur,  le  sieur  implied  gradations  which  no  longer  existed. 
Even  citoyen  suggested  some  distinction;  it  was,  moreover,  a 
sacred  word,  and  while  it  might  be  fittingly  applied  to  Petion 
or  Condorcet,  to  refer  to  Marat  as  citoyen  was  to  prostitute  the 
term  to  a  base  use.  Republicans,  the  article  concluded,  might 
well  imitate  the  Romans,  and  say  simply  Petion,  Condorcet, 
Paine,  as  at  Rome  people  talked  of  Cato,  Cicero,  and  Brutus. 
It  was  all  very  well  for  Brissot  to  utter  pseans  in  praise  of 
republicanism,  but  his  enemies  had  not  forgotten  that  his  ad- 
vocacy of  a  republic  had  by  no  means  been  unflagging  and  that 
in  the  critical  months  of  July  and  August  just  passed,  he  had 
advised  caution  and  even  delaj\ 

The  quarrel  that  had  developed  at  that  epoch  between  the 
Girondins  and  the  Jacobin  supporters  of  the  Commune  now 
received  a  new  and  powerful  impetus,  since  neither  party 
needed  to  exercise  caution  for  fear  of  giving  an  advantage  to 
the  monarchists.  But  scarcely  had  the  decree  for  the  abolition 
of  monarchy  been  passed  when  the  Girondins  rushed  to  the 
assault.  Their  opponents,  they  cried,  were  forever  stained 
with  the  blood  of  the  loathsome  massacres  of  September.  It 
was  time  to  set  up  scaffolds  for  the  assassins  and  for  those  who 
provoked  assassination.^  Nor  was  this  all.  The  guilty  wretches 
had  built  upon  their  crime  to  make  themselves  masters  of  Paris 
and  of  all  France.  Masters  they  were  and  masters  they  strove 
to  remain  by  creating  a  dictatorship  whereby  Paris  could  over- 
awe the  Convention  and  control  the  nation. 

To  meet  this  danger  the  Girondins  proposed  to  establish  a 
departmental  guard  about  Paris,  consisting  of  delegates  from 
the  eighty-three  departments. ^  The  Mountain  accepted  the 
challenge  and  stubbornly  contested  every  inch  of  the  ground. 
They  denied  with  indignation  that  they  had  connived  at  the 
massacres;  they  repudiated  the  charge  of  seeking  to  establish 
a  dictatorship;  but  above  all  they  violently  opposed  the  pro- 
ject of  a  departmental  guard.  On  this  question  the  advantage 

1  Moniteur,  September  25,  1792.  *  Ibid.,  September  26,  1792. 


306  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

was  distinctly  on  their  side,  for,  by  proclaiming  themselves  the 
champions  of  the  liberty  of  Paris,  they  discredited  the  Giron- 
dins  with  the  people  of  that  all-important  city.  INIoreover,  by 
retorting  with  the  counter-charge  that  the  real  object  of  the 
Girondins  was  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  nation  by  splitting 
France  into  a  score  of  federal  republics,  they  rendered  them 
objects  of  undying  suspicion  and  endless  hate. '  In  this  quarrel, 
which  raged  with  increasing  bitterness  for  several  weeks,  Bris- 
sot  spoke  but  seldom, ^  but  in  his  journal  he  upheld  his  own 
party  with  a  loyalty  and  attacked  the  Mountain  with  a  vin- 
dictiveness  which  would  have  done  credit  to  the  ante-election 
editorials  of  a  modern  newspaper.  "VMiatever  the  Girondins 
advocated  was  jper  se  good,  the  views  of  the  Mountain  per  se 
bad. 

The  quarrel  began  over  the  question  whether  a  man  might 
hold  his  position  as  minister  and  at  the  same  time  be  a  member 
of  the  legislative  body.  The  individual  involved  was  Roland. 
While  Brissot  argued  against  this  as  a  princijJe,  he  did  want 
Roland  to  hold  both  i)laces  provisionally,  and  was  furious  with 
Danton  for  having  dragged  Madame  Roland  into  the  discus- 
sion by  his  remark  to  the  effect  that  if  Roland  were  asked  to 
continue  his  functions  as  minister,  the  same  invitation  would 
have  to  be  extended  to  Madame  Roland.  Such  an  allusion  was 
both  ungallant  and  ungracious,  Brissot  declared,  and  Danton 
ought  to  be  ashamed  of  himself.^ 

Meanwhile  the  matter  of  the  departmental  guard  was  again 

*  Moniteur,  September  26,  1792.  Although  the  plan  for  a  general  depart- 
mental guard  was  defeated,  the  Girondins  succeeded  in  inducing  a  consider- 
able number  o(  federes  from  Marseilles  to  come  up  to  Paris.  This  guard  ap- 
peared at  the  bar  of  the  Convention  and  proclaimed  its  intention  of  defending 
Paris  against  the  dictators.   See  Moniteur,  October  22,  1792. 

2  The  leadership  in  this  quarrel  passed  to  Buzot. 

*  "Danton  na  pas  rougi  de  dire  que,  si  Vonjaisait  une  invitation  d  Roland,  H 
falloit  aussi  en  f aire  une  a  lafemme  de  ce  ministre,  puisquelle  aide  de  ses  con- 
seils.  Ce  reproche  etoit  infdme :  c'etoitfaire  un  crime  a  un  ministre  du  bonheur  de 
possSder  un  ami3,  un  conseiller  eclaire  dans  sa  femme.  .  .  .  Heureux,  mille  fois 
heureux,  les  ministres,  les  fonctionnaires  qui  ont  des  Spouses  aussi  eclairees  et 
aussi  vcrtueuses :  ceux-ld  ne  risquent  pas  defaire  de  plates  adresscs,  ou  de  proteger 
des  sctleratsJ"  Patriote  Frangais,  September  30,  1792. 


THE  CON\'ENTION  307 

taken  up  by  Buzot,  who  urgently  demanded  such  an  organiza- 
tion. This  demand  Brissot  commended  with  enthusiasm.  He 
again  warmly  approved  of  Buzot,  when  some  three  weeks  later 
the  latter  argued  that  this  measure  did  not  imply  hostility  to 
Paris,  but  on  the  contrary  furthered  that  unity  which  was  for 
the  best  interest  of  Paris.  ^   And  in  describing  the  culminating 
incident  of  this  preliminary  struggle  between  the  Girondins  and 
the  Jacobins  —  the  attack  of   Louvet  on  Robespierre  —  he 
praised  the  former  in  extravagant  terms  and  poured  his  bitter- 
est scorn  upon  the  latter.    "Louvet,"  he  declared,  "made  a 
speech,  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  give  an  extract,  because  it 
was  all  equally  strong,  equally  fine.  .  .  .  The  eloquence  of  the 
orator  was  as  great  as  his  courage  —  and  never  did  Cicero 
show  more  courage  when,  in  the  Roman  Senate,  he  challenged 
the  anarchist  Catiline  and  the  ambitious  Antony."  ^   Robes- 
pierre's   speech,   on   the   contrary,    was    beneath    contempt. 
"Robespierre  spoke,  —  in  one  word  we  have  analyzed  his 
speech  —  he  spoke.  He  ought  to  have  justified  himself  and  did 
not  do  it.   When  accused  of  having  aspired  to  the  dictatorship, 
he  answered  that  in  order  to  aspire  to  it  one  must  be  a  fool, 
which  does  not  prove  that  he  did  not  aspire  to  it."  ^   As  for 
Marat,  Brissot  could  hardly  contain  himself.  He  begged  pardon 
of  his  readers  for  being  obliged  even  to  mention  his  name  and 
alluded  to  him  as  that  man  "whose  every  word  was  a  horror, 
whose  every  thought  was  a  crime,  every  gesture  a  contortion, 
every  action  an  argument  against  Providence."  * 

The  combatants  in  this  mortal  strife  seized  upon  every  coign 
of  vantage  and  delivered  their  blows  in  the  political  clubs  as 
well  as  in  the  Convention  or  through  the  newspapers.  At  the 
Jacobin  Club,  it  will  be  recalled,  charges  of  anti-repubhcan- 
ism  had  already  been  made  against  Brissot  and  decisive  action 
had  long  been  pending.^  The  charges  were  now  renewed  and 
added  to.   On  the  23d  of  September,  he  was  accused  of  having 

1  Patriote  FrariQais,  October  9,  1792.        «  Ibid.,  October  31,  1792. 
3  Ihid.,  November  6,  1792.  *  Ibid.,  October  5,  1792. 

5  See  p.  268. 


308  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

referred  to  Robespierre  and  Danton  as  leaders  in  the  Conven- 
tion of  a  party  of  disorganizers  and  was  summoned  to  appear 
before  the  Club  to  exjilain  himself.  The  next  day  he  answered 
by  letter  that  he  would  come  as  soon  as  he  had  an  evening 
when  he  was  not  occu])ied  at  the  Convention.^  The  Jacobin 
Club,  however,  did  not  wait  for  his  exjjlanation,  but  on  Octo- 
ber 10  they  took  the  final  step  and  expelled  him.^  The  formal 
accusation  contained  but  one  general  charge,  that  of  opposition 
to  the  Commune  of  Paris,  but  the  circular  which  the  Club  sent 
out  to  all  the  affiliated  societies  notifying  them  of  its  action  was 
very  specific.  In  it  they  accused  Brissot  not  only  of  calum- 
niating Paris,  but  of  having  been  the  friend  of  Lafayette,  of 
temporizing  with  the  king,  of  injuring  the  country  by  bringing 
on  a  foreign  war  and  of  being  at  best  a  half-hearted  republican.' 
Brissot  in  reply  appealed  to  his  constituents,  and  in  a  lengthy 
pamphlet  entitled  ''A  tons  les  republicans  de  France  sur  la 
Societe  des  Jacobins  dc  Paris,*'  set  forth  his  side  of  the  case.  He 
began  by  defending  his  attacks  on  the  leaders  of  the  Paris  Com- 
mune, who  were  now  represented  by  the  party  of  the  Mountain. 
They  were  nothing  less,  he  declared,  than  a  party  of  disorgan- 
izers; he  had  preached  against  them  and  would  continue  to 
preach  against  them.  Three  revolutions  were  necessary,  he 
went  on,  to  save  France:  the  first  to  overthrow  despotism;  the 
second,  to  destroy  royalty;  the  third  ought  to  overcome  an- 
archy, and  it  is  to  that  last  revolution  that,  since  the  10th  of 
August,  he  had  consecrated  his  pen  and  all  his  efforts.  This  was 
his  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the  agitators.  "These  agitators  or  dis- 
organizers are  those,"  he  continued,  "who,  while  preaching 
theoretically  an  equality  of  departments,  in  fact  elevate  Paris 
above  all  of  them;  who  thus  elevate  it  only  that  they  may 
elevate  themselves,  who  wish  the  unity  of  the  republic  only 
that  they  may  consolidate  the  entire  republic  about  their  little 

^  Aulard,  Les  Jacobins,  iv,  327-30. 

-  The  same  day  Petion  was  replaced  by  Danton  as  president,  and  on  No- 
vember £6  Louvet,  Lanthenas,  Roland,  and  Girey-Dupre  were  expelled.  Ibid., 
IV,  376  and  519. 

*  Ibid.,  IV,  377-78. 


THE  CONVENTION  309 

center  of  intrigue  and  from  that  center  dominate  all  the  depart- 
ments." Then,  turning  to  the  accusation  of  having  brought 
about  the  war,  he  declared  that  the  war  had  justified  itself  by 
having  overthrown  royalty.  As  for  the  ci\'il  war  in  the  colo- 
nies, that  was  due  not  to  him,  but  to  Barnave;  as  far  as  La- 
fayette was  concerned,  he  had  been  his  friend,  but  had  been 
deceived  by  him;  and  finally,  as  for  the  assertion  that  he, 
together  with  his  friends  Vergniaud,  Gensonne,  and  Guadet, 
formed  a  "Brissotin"  faction  —  that  was  a  mere  figment  of 
the  imagination  gotten  up  to  frighten  the  people.  This  defense 
naturally  had  little  effect  on  the  Jacobin  Club;  but  though 
stripped  of  his  ])ower  there,  he  continued  to  be  recognized 
as  the  chief  enemy  of  the  club,  at  least  till  November.  But 
when  during  the  winter  of  179'2-93  Buzot  became  more  prom- 
inent, they  turned  their  main  attacks  upon  him. 

While  poHtical  strife  was  thus  raging  within,  important 
questions  of  foreign  affairs  were  demanding  settlement.  The 
situation  was  critical;  war  was  being  waged  against  Austria 
and  Prussia,  but  there  was  still  a  chance  that  by  wise  diplomacy 
further  complications  might  be  avoided.  In  the  discussion  of 
these  questions  Brissot  was  keenly  interested  and,  as  a  member 
of  the  Diplomatic  Committee,  took  an  active  part. 

Even  in  the  conduct  of  the  war  the  influence  of  the  internal 
strife  made  itself  felt.  Marat,  for  example,  denounced  Du- 
mouriez  for  his  attitude  toward  the  Prussians  and  hastened  to 
point  out  that  a  man  who  had  been  lenient  to  one  foe  might  be 
lenient  to  another,  even  to  the  point  of  treason.  \Vhereui)on 
Brissot,  in  spite  of  the  bitterness  which  he  had  felt  toward  Du- 
mouriez  on  account  of  his  part  in  the  fall  of  the  Girondin  min- 
istry, promptly  took  up  the  cudgels  in  his  behalf,  supporting 
Dumouriez's  policy  and  defending  his  motives.  ^  And  a  little 
later,  when  Dumouriez  and  Pache  fell  into  disagreement,  Bris- 
sot tried  to  pour  oil  on  the  troubled  waters.  On  December  2, 
1792,  he  wrote  to  Dumouriez  that  Pache  really  believed  in  his 
(Dumouriez's)  talents  and  recognized  his  success.  At  the  same 
I  Patriate  Franqais,  October  4,  December  3,  179S8,  and  March  1,  1793. 


310  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

time  he  exhorted  Dumoiiriez  to  pay  no  heed  to  the  calumnies 
directed  against  him,  but  to  pursue  his  course  in  the  conviction 
that  he  would  be  righteously  judged  by  posterity. ^ 

Despite  the  disputes  in  the  management  of  the  war,  which 
led  Pache  to  give  only  a  half-hearted  support  to  the  com- 
manders, Dumouriez  and  the  other  generals  won  a  series  of 
victories  which  made  France  successful  from  the  Scheldt  to  the 
Pyrenees.  The  question  was  then  raised :  What  attitude  should 
be  taken  toward  the  conquered  territory.'*  In  the  excitement 
of  victory  the  members  of  the  Convention  lost  their  heads,  and, 
while  they  gave  one  answer  theoretically,  practically  they  gave 
quite  another.  On  November  19  they  set  forth  in  eloquent  terms 
the  revolutionary  propaganda,  asserting  that  France  was  ready 
to  carry  aid  wherever  men  were  seeking  to  recover  their  liberty,^ 
and  yet  in  almost  the  same  breath  they  decreed  the  annexa- 
tion of  Savoy  ^  and  Nice  ■*  and  the  opening  of  the  Scheldt.^ 

What  was  Brissot's  attitude  toward  this  revolutionary 
propaganda  ?  To  spread  ideas  of  liberty  had  been  the  object 
of  much  of  his  pre-revolutionary  writing  and  the  motive  of  his 
numerous  schemes  for  international  organizations.  He  might, 
therefore,  naturally  be  exjiected  to  be  in  the  forefront  in  press- 
ing a  real  and  immediate  liberty  upon  Europe.  Indeed,  it  has 
been  asserted  that  he  surpassed  all  his  friends  in  his  enthusi- 
asm.^ This  statement,  however,  does  not  seem  to  be  borne  out, 

1  Correspondance,  317-18;  see  also  letter  of  December  9.   Ildd.,  p.  319. 

*  The  action  was  taken  on  November  19,  1792.  See  the  Moniteur,  November 
20,  1792. 

*  Moniteur,  November  28,  1792. 

*  Ibid.,  February  1,  1793.  The  imion  had  been  discussed  as  early  as  No- 
vember 4,  1792. 

'  Ibid.,  November  22,  1792.  It  is  true  that  in  some  instances  the  inhabitants 
themselves  of  the  conquered  territory  petitioned  for  annexation.  It  is  also 
true  that  the  Assembly  did  much  to  encourage  such  petitions.  Contrary  to  the 
accepted  idea  that  the  Girondins  were  the  leaders  in  the  movement  for  an- 
nexation, Anacharsis  Cloots  in  his  Ni  Marat  ni  Roland  asserted  that  they  were 
opposed  to  it.  This  assertion,  however,  is  not  borne  out  by  their  public  utter- 
ances. See  the  Moniteur,  November  20,  1792;  abo  Sorel,  L' Europe  ei  la  Revo- 
lution frangaise,  III,  169. 

^  Cahen,  Condorcet,  439. 


THE  CONVENTION  311 

at  least  in  his  relation  to  the  decree  of  November  19.  When  this 
decree  was  brought  before  the  Convention,  he  tried  to  have  it 
referred  to  the  Diplomatic  Committee,^  and  in  his  newspaper 
he  expressed  himself  strongly  against  the  general  terms  in  which 
it  was  couched  and  declared  that  this  was  a  fault  which  might 
have  been  avoided  if  it  had  been  referred  to  a  committee  for 
greater  precision  of  statement.^    Later,  in  his  address  A  ses 
Comviettans,'  and  in  his  Projei  de  defense  when  criticized  for  his 
supposed  approval  of  the  decree,  he  reiterated  his  former  objec- 
tions to  it."   His  objection  at  the  time  the  decree  was  passed 
was  certainly  sufficient  to  warrant  his  later  assertions  that  he 
had  opposed  it,  but  that  opposition  seems  to  have  been  to  its 
wording  rather  than  to  its  fundamental  principle.  At  all  events, 
with  regard  to  the  decree  of  December  15,  he  took  the  stand 
which  might  have  been  expected  of  him  and  expressed  himself 
with  enthusiasm.  This  decree  declared  that  the  revolutionary 
mstitutions  should  be  carried  into  all  countries  occupied  by 
the  French  Republic  and  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 
and  the  suppression  of  all  existing  authorities  should  be  pro- 
claimed. According  to  Brissot  this  decree,  which  was  to  carry 
"war  to  the  castle  and  peace  to  the  cottage,"  was  founded 
upon  great  principles.   At  the  same  time  he  tried  to  reconcile 
these  principles  with  annexation,  by  pointing  out  —  what  was 
true  only  in  a  limited  sense  —  that  it  was  the  desire  of  neigh- 
boring peoples  to  be  united  with  France.^ 

1  Moniteur,  November  20,  1792.  ,     .       ,  j. 

2  "VAssemhUe  rend  enfin  un  decret  dont  il  exit  He  sans  doute  plus  sage  de 
confierk  reaction  a  un  comite :  car  U  offre  une  generality  qui  serait  ridicule,  sx 
Vesprit  du  decret  ne  le  restreignait  pas;  mais  il  fallait  prectser  cette  restriction, 
c  est  une  de  ces  f antes  dans  lesquelles  les  assemblees  tomberont  toutes  les  fots 
queues  voudront  improviser  des  deliberations  sur  des  matures  impartantes  et 
delicates."   Patriate  Fran(!ais,  ISiovemher  iO,  1792. 

3  In  his  address  A  ses  Commettans  he  speaks  of  ^labsurde  et  impolitique 

decret  du  19  novembre,  que  a  justement  exite  les  inquietudes  des  cabinets  etrangeres. 

In  a  note  in  the  same  address  he  says:  "En  vain  plusieursmembres  endeman- 

daient  au  mains  le  renvoi  au  comite  diplomatique,  pourredigerje  mamere  d  ne 

pas  blesser  les  puissances  avec  lesquelles  on  etait  en  paix     (p.  bH). 

*  Memoir es,  ii,  307.  ^  „>.„., 

6  "Au  nom  des  Comites  diplomatique,  de  la  guerre  et  des  finances,  Cambon 


812  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  existence  of  opposition  among  the  neighboring  peoples 
to  annexation  offered  to  Brissot,  however,  no  legitimate  reason 
why  France  should  refrain  from  annexation.  "We  ought  not," 
he  declared  in  regard  to  the  proposed  annexation  of  Savoy, 
"to  pass  over  in  silence  a  question  which  has  been  raised,  viz., 
whether  a  people  whom  w^e  have  delivered  from  despotism  has 
the  right  to  submit  itself  again  to  its  yoke.  We  believe  not. 
It  is  wHith  people  in  society  as  a  whole  as  with  individuals  in 
smaller  groups;  they  are  allowed  to  injure  themselves,  but  not 
in  such  a  way  as  to  injure  others.  Now  despotism  is  an  evil, 
not  only  for  the  people  who  submit  to  it  but  also  for  others. 
People  ought  no  more  to  be  allowed  to  give  themselves  despots 
than  individuals  to  keep  serpents;  since  their  neighbors  ought 
not  to  suffer  because  of  their  foolish  performances."  ^  Nothing 
could  more  clearly  exj^ress  the  system  of  liberty  which  France 
was  to  force  on  her  neighbors  whether  they  desired  it  or  not. 
That,  in  some  cases,  their  neighbors  did  not  want  this  liberty, 
w^as  only  too  e\4dent,  but  as  M.  Sorel  remarks,  it  was  to  be  a 
choice  between  "destruction  and  fraternity."  ^ 

That  the  existing  benighted  authorities  had  any  rights  does 
not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  Brissot.  The  existing  authorities 
represented  despotism,  and  that  was  sufficient  to  deprive  them 
of  any  claim  to  consideration.  These  opinions  he  developed 
in  a  series  of  reports  on  the  subject  of  the  relations  of  France 
to  the  Swiss  cantons  and  to  Geneva.  The  Svniss  had  been  much 
irritated  by  the  action  of  the  Assembly  in  regard  to  the  Swiss 
troops  on  account  of  their  part  in  the  events  of  the  10th  of 
August.^    They  had  refused  to  recognize  the  provisional  gov- 

fait  un  rapport  sur  la  conduite  que  doivent  ienir  nos  gin6raux  a  Vegard  des  peuples 
dojit  le  territoire  est  occupe  par  les  armies  de  la  repuhlique,  et  il  propose  ensuite  un 
projet  de  decret  quon  pent  regarder  V organization  du  pouvoir  revolutionnaire 
universel.  Les  grands  principles  de  liberie  et  de  politique,  developpes  par  le 
rapporteur,  ont  fait  d'autant  plus  d' impression  quil  les  a  exposes  avec  cette 
entrainante  naivete,  cette  simplicite  Snergique  qui  caracterisent  I'orateur  de  la  na- 
ture lorsquil  nest  pas  corrompu  et  qu'il  ne  cherche  pas  a  corrompre."  Patriate 
Franqais,  December  17,  1792. 

^  Patriate  Frangais,  September  30,  1792. 

*  Sorel,  L' Europe  et  la  Revolution  jranQaise,  in,  106.     '  Ibid.,  iii,  121-22. 


THE  CONVENTION  313 

emment,  and  when  French  troops  occupied  the  valley  of  Poren- 
truy  and  stirred  up  the  inhabitants  against  their  sovereign, 
the  bishop  of  Bale,  the  cantons  of  Berne  and  Uri  made  open 
protest  and  demanded  the  removal  of  the  French  troops.  This, 
Brissot  argued,  should  not  be  done,  as  the  presence  of  French 
troops  there  was  a  measure  of  self-defense  made  necessary  by 
the  war  with  the  emperor,  and  had  been  provided  for  by  pre- 
vious treaties;  and  further,  that  the  bishop  of  Bale  deserved 
little  consideration,  as  he  had  flagrantly  violated  treaties  made 
with  France.^  Brissot's  arguments  prevailed  and  the  troops 
remained.  Trouble  of  a  like  nature  soon  arose  with  Geneva. 
Geneva,  which  was  a  free  imj)erial  city,  had  in  1558  and  1584 
made  a  perjietual  alliance  with  the  cantons  of  Berne  and  Zu- 
rich. At  the  time  of  the  democratic  revolution  in  Geneva  in 
1782,  France,  Sardinia,  and  the  cantons  of  Switzerland  had 
intervened,  established  an  aristocratic  constitution,  and  pro- 
vided that  in  case  of  war  Geneva  was  to  be  declared  neutral. 

In  September,  179'2.  the  Genevese,  frightened  at  the  pro- 
jects of  France,  called  in  support  from  Berne  and  Zurich.  They 
held  that  they  had  a  right  to  do  this  on  the  ground  that  the 
treaty  of  1584  was  not  set  aside  by  that  of  1782.  Brissot,  in  a 
report  on  the  sul)ject,  October  16,  asserted  that  the  treaty  of 
1584  was  abrogated  and  that  the  Genevese  had  no  right  to  call 
in  the  troops.  But  while  declaring  that  the  part  of  the  treaty 
of  1782  which  guaranteed  the  neutrality  of  Geneva  must  be 
preserved,  he  asserted  at  the  same  time  that  the  other  part  of 
that  treaty,  that  which  guaranteed  the  aristocratic  constitu- 
tion, must  be  abandoned  as  unworthy  of  the  recognition  of  the 
French  nation. ^ 

Meanwhile,  Montesquieu  was  carrjnng  on  negotiations  with 
Geneva,  and  on  October  22  signed  a  treaty,  by  which  Geneva 
engaged  to  have  the  Swiss  troops  removed  by  the  1st  of  the 

^  Moniteur,  October  4,  1792.  He  made  this  report  in  the  name  of  the  Com- 
mission extraordinaire. 

*  Moniteur,  October  17,  1792.  See  also  Sorel,  L'Europe  et  la  RSvolution 
frangaise,  iii,  122-26, 


314  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

succeeding  January,  on  condition  that  the  French  troops  with- 
draw immediately  after  the  ratification  of  the  treaty.  The 
agreement,  however,  had  nothing  to  say  of  a  proscription  of  the 
aristocrats  nor  of  the  abrogation  of  the  guaranty  of  the  con- 
stitution of  1782.  The  2d  of  November  Montesquieu  made  an- 
other report,  which,  while  it  included  some  modifications  in  the 
interests  of  France,  still  maintained  the  constitution  of  1782. 
For  this  failure  the  Convention  censured  Montesquieu,  and  on 
the  motion  of  the  Diplomatic  Committee,  presented  by  Brissot 
November  21,  criticized  the  terms  of  the  treaties,  but  at  the 
same  time  made  the  best  of  the  situation  by  setting  forward 
the  date  of  the  evacuation  of  Genevese  territory,  not  only  by 
the  French  but  by  the  Swiss  troops.^ 

While  thus  contending  openly  against  aristocratic  govern- 
ments in  Switzerland,  Brissot  was  privately  considering  the 
situation  with  regard  to  Spain.  On  November  26  he  wrote  in 
most  incendiary  terms  to  Servan  that  it  was  necessary  to  de- 
clare war  on  Spain;  that  there  would  not  be  peaceful  liberty  for 
France  so  long  as  there  was  a  Bourbon  on  the  throne  ;2  and  that 
in  order  to  assure  the  triumph  of  the  Revolution  and  the  defeat 
of  its  enemies,  Europe  must  be  set  on  fire.  Meantime  Spanish 
America  must  be  aroused.^  To  accomplish  this  purpose  Bris- 
sot set  actively  to  work.  He  first  entered  into  negotiations 
with  a  young  Spaniard,  Marchena  by  name,  with  the  idea  of 
stirring  up  revolutionary  propaganda  in  Spain.*  He  next 
turned  his  attention  to  the  Spanish  possessions  in  the  new 
world.  The  outcome  of  the  latter  undertaking  was  the  pro- 
posed expedition  of  Genet  to  drive  the  Spaniards  from  the 
Mississippi.  Ever  since  his  American  travels,  Brissot  had  been 

1  Moniteur,  November  22,  1792. 

'  Note  particularly  the  same  expression  in  his  letter  to  Dumouriez  of  No- 
vember 28,  1792.   Correspondance,  314. 

'  Letter  to  Servan,  November  26,  1792.  Collection  Charavay;  printed  by 
Perroud  in  the  Correspondance,  312.  Mallet  du  Pan,  in  his  Considerations  sur  la 
nature  de  la  lievolution  de  France,  37,  quotes  from  this  letter.  See  also  Brissot's 
letters  to  Dumouriez  of  November  28,  December  2,  and  9,  1792;  Correspon- 
dance, 314-20. 

*  See  pp.  360-61;  also  Goetz-Bernstein,  323. 


THE  CONVENTION  315 

keenly  interested  in  the  western  development  of  the  United 
States;  he  had  written  of  it  at  length  in  his  Nouveau  Voyage^ 
had  tried  to  advance  various  schemes  for  the  sale  of  lands,  and 
had  been  ready  to  risk  financial  investments.^  He  was  now 
consulted  as  an  authority  on  the  subject,  and  on  January  25, 
1792,  he  was  asked  by  the  Committee  of  General  Defense  to 
report  on  the  possibility  of  an  expedition  against  the  Spanish 
dependencies. 2  That  there  was  abundant  prospect  of  success 
in  such  an  expedition  he  was  thoroughly  convinced,  especially 
in  view  of  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  western  settlers  toward 
Spain.  As  to  the  best  means  of  procedure,  he  consulted  with 
the  members  of  his  party,  as  well  as  with  Thomas  Paine  and 
the  Americans  whom  he  often  met  at  Paine's  house.  His  own 
plan  seems  to  have  been  to  make  use  of  Miranda  and  thirty 
thousand  troops  from  Santo  Domingo  to  aid  in  securing  the 
independence  of  Louisiana.^  In  his  letter  to  Servan,  referred 
to  above,  he  spoke  of  Miranda's  courage  and  genius  and  ex- 
pressed the  belief  that  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  for  him  to 
free  the  inhabitants  of  the  western  lands  from  the  chains  forged 
for  them  by  Pizarro  and  Cortez.^  It  was  finally  decided  to  send 
Genet,  an  appointment  for  which  Brissot  himself  was  respon- 
sible.* Hitherto  Genet's  chief  mission  has  been  considered  to 
be  his  efforts  to  fit  out  privateers  for  France  and  to  enlist  en- 
thusiasm for  his  cause  through  popular  societies;  but  its  real 
importance  lay  in  the  plans  by  which  he  proposed,  through 
the  help  of  American  frontiersmen,  to  wrest  Louisiana  from  the 

^  See  chap.  iv. 

2  Aulard,  Recueil  des  ades  de  la  ComitS  de  Salut  public,  ii,  10,  and  iii,  82. 

'  Lettre  a  Dumouriez,  December  2,  1792;  Correspondance,  317.  See  also  arti- 
cle by  Turner  cited  below. 

*  Lettre  a  Servan,  November  26,  1792;  again  in  Correspondance,  312-13. 
See  also  Brissot 's  own  letter  to  Miranda  dated  November  11,  1792;  Corre- 
spondance, 303-04. 

'  Otto,  a  former  secretary  in  the  foreign  oflSce,  declared  in  1797  that  it  was 
Brissot  who  proposed  Genet  as  minister  to  the  United  States.  (Turner,  Ameri- 
can Historical  Review,  iii,  654.)  See  also  the  statement  of  Brissot  at  his  trial, 
the  Interrogatoire.  Madame  Roland  makes  the  same  assertion  in  Memoires,  i, 
265-66. 


316  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

hands  of  their  common  enemy  and  thus  benefit  France.^  The 
persistent  neutrality  of  the  United  States,  however,  and  the  fall 
of  the  Girondins  at  home  led  to  Genet's  recall  and  to  the  failure 
of  an  expedition  which  was  important  in  its  inception  and 
origin,  if  not  in  its  results. 

The  Genet  affair  had  been  managed  by  the  Committee  of 
General  Defense.  This  committee  came  into  existence  early  in 
1793,  on  account  of  the  growing  complexity  of  foreign  affairs, 
and  soon  began  to  perform  the  functions  formerly  exercised  by 
the  Diplomatic  Committee.  It  was  composed  of  members  from 
several  different  committees  and  included  Brissot  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  Diplomatic  Committee.  Under  its  direction 
was  carried  out  some  of  the  most  important  work  undertaken 
by  the  Convention;  the  army  and  ministry  of  war  were  re- 
organized, many  places  on  the  frontier  were  annexed  and  ex- 
traordinary powers  were  granted  to  the  deputies  on  mission. ^ 

With  the  conquest  of  Belgium  had  come  the  opening  of  the 
Scheldt.^  England  and  Holland  had  been  especially  exasperated 

*  Frederick  J.  Turner,  "The  Origin  of  Genet's  Projected  Attack  on  Loui- 
siana and  the  Floridas,"  in  the  American  Historical  Review,  July,  1898,  iii, 
650-71.  Also  "Documents  on  the  Relations  of  France  to  Louisiana,"  1792- 
1795,  American  Historical  Review,  April,  1898,  iii,  490-516.  See  also  Instruc- 
tions to  Genet,  December,  1792;  in  Correspondence  of  French  Ministers,  1791- 
1798,  ed.  by  Frederick  J.  Turner;  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical 
Association,  1903,  ii,  201-07. 

*  This  Committee  of  General  Defense  was  organized  in  accordance  with  a 
decree  passed  by  the  Assembly,  January  1,  1793.  It  met  for  the  first  time 
January  4.  The  three  sessions  a  week  which  it  had  arranged  to  hold  proving 
insufficient  for  the  amount  of  work  to  be  transacted,  daily  sessions  —  some- 
times even  two  sessions  a  day  —  became  necessary.  From  January  4  to  March 
26,  when  it  was  reorganized,  twenty-four  sessions  were  recorded.  To  the  re- 
organized committee  Brissot  was  not  elected.  His  work  in  relation  to  foreign 
affairs  belongs,  therefore,  to  the  early  months  of  the  Convention.  It  is  to  be 
noted  in  passing  that  the  Committee  of  General  Defense  was  the  forerun- 
ner of  the  great  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  and  the  powers  granted  to  it 
distinctly  foreshadowed  the  powers  afterwards  granted  to  that  committee. 
In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  realize  that  Brissot,  the  man  of  all  others 
who  is  often  thought  to  have  been  opposed  to  the  whole  order  and  policy  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  was  one  of  the  most  important  members  of  its 
predecessor.   Aulard,  Recueil  des  actes  de  Comite  de  Salut  public,  i,  389,  401. 

'  Proclaimed  by  the  French  ministers,  November  16,  1792.  See  Moniteur, 
November  22,  1792. 


THE  CONVENTION  317 

by  this  action,  and  with  reason.  For  this  river  had  been  closed 
to  seagoing  vessels  by  the  treaty  of  Munster  and  also  by  sub- 
sequent treaties,  with  the  object  of  diverting  trade  from  Ant- 
werp to  Amsterdam,  and  thus  benefiting  the  Dutch,  and  it  had 
remained  closed  ever  since  1648.  If  it  were  now  made  a  free 
river,  both  London  and  Amsterdam  would  suffer  loss  of  trade 
which  would  instead  go  to  enrich  Antwerp  and  with  Antwerp 
all  Belgium.  In  his  plan  of  defense  before  the  revolutionary 
tribunal,  Brissot  disclaimed  having  had  anything  to  do  with 
this  decree.  It  was  ordered,  he  declared,  by  the  executive 
council  without  informing  the  Diplomatic  Committee.  At  the 
time,  however,  the  Patriote  Frangais  spoke  of  the  action  with 
enthusiasm,  alluding  to  the  noble  destiny  of  France  "to  undo 
everywhere  the  errors  of  the  people  and  the  crimes  of  des- 
pots." ^ 

In  whatever  light  it  may  have  appeared  to  French  enthu- 
siasts, this  "undoing  of  the  crimes  of  despots"  seemed  to  Eu- 
rope an  unwarrantable  interference  on  the  part  of  France  in 
the  affairs  of  her  neighbors.  It  was  deeply  resented  by  England 
especially  and  was  one  of  the  causes  of  the  war  between  Eng- 
land and  France.  In  bringing  on  this  war  Brissot,  it  was  al- 
leged, had  a  large  share  —  a  charge  which  he  vehemently  de- 
nied. In  his  Projet  de  defense  before  the  revolutionary  tribunal, 
he  declared  that  both  as  a  representative  of  the  people  and  as 
a  citizen  he  had  on  the  contrary  done  everything  in  his  power 
to  prevent  that  war.^  There  is  much  truth  in  his  claim,  at 
least  as  far  as  his  attitude  up  to  the  king's  trial  is  concerned, 
but  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  talking  about  peace  and  an 
alliance,  he  was  furthering  those  very  measures  —  such  as  the 
annexations  and  the  opening  of  the  Scheldt  —  which  were  mak- 
ing war  inevitable.  Ever  since  the  spring  of  1792,  when  war 
was  declared  against  Prussia  and  Austria,  he  had  been  closely 
connected,  both  through  his  relation  to  the  Girondin  ministry 
and  his  membership  in  the  Diplomatic  Committee,  with  efforts 
to  secure,  first,  the  alliance,  and  when  that  seemed  no  longer 
^  Patriote  Frangais,  November  22,  1792.  *  MSmoires,  ii,  308. 


318  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

possible,  the  neutrality,  of  England.  It  was  he,  moreover,  who 
together  with  Condorcet  recommended  the  young  Julien,  who 
was  sent  to  England  early  in  the  autumn  of  1792  to  disseminate 
correct  information  as  to  the  situation  in  France,  in  order  that 
war  might  be  prevented.^ 

To  prevent  foreign  war  was,  indeed,  the  chief  ground  of  his 
argument  for  an  appeal  to  the  people  at  the  time  of  the  king's 
trial.  The  opinion  that  Europe  was  coming  to  take  of  the 
French  Revolution,  he  declared,  in  a  speech  before  the  Con- 
vention on  January  1,  was  not  sufficiently  heeded.  Foreign 
governments  would  only  welcome  the  condemnation  of  the 
king  by  the  Convention,  because  it  would  give  them  the 
chance,  which  they  would  eagerly  seize,  to  stir  up  popular  feel- 
ing against  the  government  of  France.  Again,  there  was  danger 
that  if  the  Convention  itself  made  the  decision,  it  might  be 
accused  of  corruption  if  it  were  lenient  to  the  king;  of  cruelty, 
if  it  were  severe.  The  judgment  of  the  people,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  be  sure  to  be  just,  impartial,  and  free  from  all 
foreign  influence.  Also  it  would  show  to  foreign  powers  that 
the  Convention  was  not  influenced  by  sudden  emotion,  but  by 
lofty  and  just  principles,  and,  moreover,  that  back  of  the  Con- 
vention was  a  united  nation.  If,  therefore,  the  judgment  of 
death  should  be  pronounced,  there  would  be  less  probability 
of  war  if  the  nation  made  the  decision  than  if  the  Convention 
made  it  alone. ^ 

Within  two  weeks  Brissot  spoke  again  on  the  war  question, 
this  time  in  behalf  of  the  Committee  of  General  Defense  and 
in  a  somewhat  different  tone.  It  was  a  lengthy  and  eloquent 
argument  that  the  complaints  of  the  British  government 
against  France  were  not  well  founded,  and  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, France  had  just  complaints  to  make  against  Great  Brit- 
ain and  ought  to  take  vigorous  measures  to  repel  her  aggres- 

1  See  letters  of  Brissot,  September  15,  1792,  and  letter  of  Julien,  September 
19,  1792.  Affaires  Strangeres,  Angleterre,  p.  582,  f.  143;  Sorel,  U Europe  et  la 
lUvolufion  fran^aise,  in,  141,  and  Correspondance,  299. 

2  Monitcur,  January  3,  1793. 


THE  CONVENTION  319 

sion.  England  withdrew  her  ambassador  after  August  10,  he 
complained.  She  ought  to  have  reinstated  her  ambassador  after 
the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  for  the  action  of  the  Conven- 
tion was  the  sanction  l>y  all  France  of  the  deeds  of  the  Legis- 
lative Assembly.  England,  moreover,  had  taken  measures 
against  the  grain  trade  of  France  and  against  her  assignats,  and 
at  the  same  time,  she  was  not  allowing  Frenchmen  free  entry 
into  England,  and  was  protecting  French  rebels  and  increasing 
her  armament.  As  for  the  complaints  of  England  against 
France,  the  invasion  of  Savoy  was  made  necessary  by  the 
hostile  preparations  of  the  king,  and  the  annexation  of  Savoy 
was  the  desire  of  its  people;  and  in  the  same  way  the  invasion 
of  the  Low  Countries  was  justified.  If  France  interfered  in 
aiding  the  Belgians  to  secure  their  rights,  the  English  held 
Holland  under  the  yoke  of  the  Stadtholder.  The  opening  of 
the  Scheldt,  he  admitted,  was  a  violation  of  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht  and  of  other  treaties,  but  it  was  not  a  violation  of  the 
principles  of  eternal  justice.  The  English  people  did  not  really 
want  war  and  ought  to  be  made  to  understand  that  France  did 
not  either,  but  that  she  was  being  forced  into  it  by  the  attitude 
of  the  English  government.  And  finally,  if  w^orse  came  to 
worst  England  was  not  ready  for  war.  Since  the  war  with 
America  she  had  been  obliged  to  increase  her  taxes  enormously 
and  was  in  no  position  to  add  to  them  further  by  another  war. 
This  speech  Erissot  closed  by  presenting  the  decrees  drawn 
up  by  the  Committee.  The  first  of  these,  by  its  declaration  of 
the  desire  to  preserve  harmony  and  fraternity  w^ith  the  English 
nation,  and  of  intention  to  respect  the  independence  of  England 
and  of  her  allies  as  long  as  they  did  not  attack  France,  seemed 
to  tend  toward  peace  and  to  give  point  to  Brissot's  contention 
in  his  plan  of  defense  that  he  did  not  want  war  and  was  en- 
deavoring to  prevent  it.^  The  remaining  propositions  of  the 
decree  were,  however,  of  a  decidedly  belligerent  tone.  The 
executive  council  was  charged  to  ask  of  the  English  govern- 
ment the  execution  of  article  IV  of  the  treaty  of  1786;  in 
1  Mimoires,  ii,  308. 


320  BRISSOT  DE   WARVILLE 

other  words,  to  allow  French  citizens  to  reside  and  travel  in 
England  without  the  humiliating  restrictions  to  which  they 
had  been  subjected.  The  executive  council  was  also  to  ask  that 
Frenchmen,  like  other  foreigners,  be  allowed  to  export  grain 
freely  from  England  (in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  of  1786);  and  finally  to  demand  a  categorical  answer 
from  England  as  to  the  object  of  its  recent  armament;  it  being 
understood  that  if  this  armament  were  directed  against  France, 
and  if  the  English  government  did  not  give  satisfaction  on  all 
the  points  specified,  the  French  government  would  immedi- 
ately take  the  measures  which  the  interest  and  security  of  the 
Republic  demanded  —  in  other  words  —  declare  war.^ 

Although  Brissot  subsequently  protested  that  he  was  speak- 
ing here  not  for  himself  but  for  the  Committee,  the  very  fact 
that  he  gave  the  report  and  in  no  way  protested  against  it  lays 
upon  him  the  responsibility  for  it.  There  exists,  moreover,  a 
good  reason  for  greater  belligerency  on  his  part  just  at  this 
juncture.  This  evidence  is  a  letter  addressed  to  Brissot  by  G. 
Martin,  dated  December  31,  1792,  and  apparently  sent  from 
London.  The  writer  appears  to  be  an  agent  working  in  the 
interest  of  France.  At  all  events,  he  sends  off  a  message  post- 
haste to  Brissot  that  he  has  just  learned  through  a  trustworthy 
source  that  there  has  been  dispatched  from  London  to  the 
three  courts  of  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  St.  Petersburg  a  most  im- 
portant note.  In  this  note,  the  writer  asserts,  they  are  urged 
to  instruct  their  ambassadors  and  agents  at  London  to  con- 
cert together  immediately  on  plans  for  military  operations; 
they  are  assured  that  there  will  be  no  trouble  about  subsidies, 
and  Russia  is  exhorted  to  furnish  sixty  thousand  troops.  They 
are  further  informed  that  public  opinion  is  becoming  favorable 
to  the  war,  and  further  that  the  approaching  "catastrophe" 
of  Louis  XVI,  which  may  be  regarded  as  certain,  will  be  all 
that  is  necessary  to  arouse  public  opinion  to  energetic  action. " 

•  MoniteuT,  January  1.5,  1793. 

*  Affaires  ctrangeres,  Angleterre,  29  Supplement,  340.  See  Appendix  A.  It 
is  true  that  just  at  this  time  Lord  Grenville  began  to  negotiate  with  foreign 


THE  CONVENTION  321 

This  letter,  which  Brissot  could  hardly  have  received  before 
January  1,  and  which  in  the  natural  course  of  events  he  would 
have  received  before  January  12,  the  date  of  his  speech,  is  most 
significant,  and  is  in  itself  enough  to  account  for  his  change 
of  view.  That  war  was  now  inevitable,  he  was  convinced.  He 
was,  therefore,  ready  to  take  measures  to  bring  about  its  open 
declaration. 

The  question  of  war  was  complicated  by  the  trial  of  Louis 
XVI.  That  the  king  should  be  tried,  and  tried  by  the  Conven- 
tion, both  parties  agreed,  and  contrary  to  the  once  accepted 
opinion,  the  Girondins  took  an  active  part  in  urging  on  the 
proceedings.  On  November  6,  Valaze  made  a  report  setting 
forth  the  crimes  of  the  king,  and  the  next  day  Mailhe  in  the 
name  of  the  Committee  on  Legislation  presented  a  report, 
arguing  that  the  king  could  and  should  be  tried  by  the  Conven- 
tion. Brissot  thoroughly  approved  of  this  report  and  gave  a 
lengthy  resume  of  it  in  the  Patriote  Frangais.^  That  he  should 
approve  was  only  to  be  expected,  considering  his  own  denun- 
ciations of  the  king  at  various  times,  and  especially  his  speech 
of  July,  1791,  on  the  responsibility  of  the  king,  in  which  he 
argued  along  much  the  same  line  as  Mailhe.  The  decree  pro- 
posed by  Mailhe  was  enacted  and  the  trial  began.  After  long 
debate  the  questions  involved  were  finally  narrowed  down  to 
three:  Was  Louis  guilty  of  conspiring  against  the  nation? 
Should  the  judgment  be  subject  to  the  sanction  of  the  people? 
What  should  be  the  penalty? 

On  the  first  question,  Brissot,  with  the  great  majority  of  the 

deputies,  simply  voted  "y^s."  ^  On  the  second  question  he  had 

already  expressed  his  views  in  his  long  and  forcible  speech  of 

powers  as  to  the  conditions  under  which  a  common  war  might  be  waged  against 
France.  (See  Lord  Grenville  to  Lord  Whitworth,  Herrmann,  Diplomatische 
Korrespondenzcn,  pp.  346—18;  also  Lord  Gren\nlle  to  M.  le  Comte  de  Woron- 
zow,  December  28,  1792,  British  Museum,  additional  mss.  36814.)  There  is, 
however,  no  evidence  of  such  definite  propositions  as  those  alleged.  But 
whether  the  writer  was  correctly  informed  is  not  so  important  to  the  point  at 
issue  as  that  he  communicated  such  a  statement  to  Brissot. 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  November  8  and  9,  1792. 

*  Procea-verbal  de  la  Contention,  volume  for  January,  1793,  p.  212. 


sm  BRTSSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

January  1,  in  which  he  had  argued  for  the  appeal  to  the  people, 
chiefly  on  account  of  the  effect  it  would  have  on  the  powers  of 
Europe  in  making  foreign  war  less  probable.  On  this  occasion 
he  did  not  reiterate  his  former  argument,  but,  as  on  the  previ- 
ous question,  simply  voted  "y^s."  ^ 

In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Brissot  and  others  of  the  same  mind, 
424  members  out  of  767  voted  against  the  appeal  to  the  people. 
Brissot  deeply  regretted  this  decision,  and  on  the  third  ques- 
tion —  What  should  be  the  penalty?  —  he  voted  for  death,  but 
made  an  effort  to  secure  postponement.  Now  that  it  had  ac- 
tually come  to  the  question  of  the  execution  of  the  king,  he  saw 
with  renewed  vividness  the  consequences.  A  few  days  before  he 
had  been  ready  to  force  the  issue  by  demanding  a  categorical 
answer  from  England  as  to  her  intentions,  and  by  so  doing  to 
throw  the  onus  for  commencing  the  war  upon  her.  Now  the 
execution  of  the  king  would,  on  the  contrary,  give  ground  to 
foreign  nations  for  action  and  would  throw  the  onus  of  war  on 
France.  This  he  was  determined  to  prevent.  "  I  see  in  the  sen- 
tence of  death,"  he  declared,  "the  signal  for  a  terrible  war,  a 
war  which  will  cost  my  country  a  prodigious  amount  of  blood 
and  treasure."  He  therefore  sought  some  other  form  of  pun- 
ishment, a  punishment  which  would  unite  as  completely  as 
possible  justice  and  the  interest  of  the  public  welfare,  which 
would  make  the  Convention  respected  by  all  parties,  which 
would  conciliate  foreign  nations,  which  would  frighten  tyrants, 
and  would  at  the  same  time  thwart  the  calculations  of  their 
cabinets,  all  of  whom  desired  the  death  of  Louis  because  they 
wanted  to  popularize  the  war.  This  punishment  he  found  in 
the  sentence  of  death,  but  with  the  suspension  of  execution  till 
after  the  ratification  of  the  constitution  by  the  people.^  On 
this  vote,  Brissot  was  again  in  a  minority,  the  majority  having 
voted  for  death. 

One  more  attempt,  however,  was  made  to  secure  delay,  and 
in  this  Brissot  used  all  his  efforts.  That  such  an  attempt  might 

>  Proccs-rerhal  de  la  Cnnrention,  volume  for  January,  1793,  f.  212.  See  also 
MoniteuT,  January  19,  1793.  *  Moniteur,  January  20,  1793. 


THE  CONVENTION  323 

easily  give  rise  to  suspicion  of  royalty,  he  was  evidently  aware, 
for  he  began  his  speech  by  protesting  that  he  was  actuated  not 
by  any  desire  to  save  the  king  from  the  just  consequences  of  his 
deeds,  but  to  further  the  best  political  interests  of  France.  The 
immediate  execution  of  the  king,  he  declared,  would  not  further 
those  interests,  but  would,  on  the  contrary,  eliminate  a  number 
of  the  friends  of  France,  and  increase  the  number  of  her 
enemies.  In  fact,  there  would  be  danger  of  a  universal  war. 
"I  say  more,"  he  continued,  speaking  with  a  frankness  and 
a  realization  of  the  danger  which  he  had  not  shown  before, 
"you  have  not  a  moment  to  lose  in  preventing  it.  If  Louis  is 
executed,  it  will  be  necessary  to  declare  war  to-morrow  against 
England,  Holland,  and  Spain,  against  all  the  tyrants  of  Europe; 
liecause  it  is  inevitable  on  their  part,  not  so  much  because  they 
will  be  irritated  by  the  death  of  Louis,  but  because  all  these 
tyrants,  resolved  as  they  are  to  crush  our  liberty,  and  wath  our 
liberty  that  of  all  Europe,  will  believe  that  they  have  found  in 
that  death  a  pretext  in  the  eyes  of  their  people.  Now  are  you 
ready  for  this  universal  war?  .  .  .  Although  there  is  every- 
where great  disorder  in  our  armies,  although  by  reason  of  a 
conspiracy  of  which  we  must  soon  know  the  source,  you  have 
not  even  a  few  thousand  soldiers  on  the  Pyrenees,  where  at  this 
moment  there  ought  to  be  more  than  forty  thousand  French- 
men protecting  the  tri-colored  flag;  yet  let  our  liberty  be  com- 
promised and  you  will  see  springing  up  everywhere,  as  out  of 
the  ground,  armies,  treasures,  and  soldiers.  But  to  make  war 
for  a  single  individual !  Ought  we  to  risk  the  entire  exhaustion 
of  our  finances,  the  loss  of  our  colonies,  the  enervation  of  our 
commerce?  Ought  we  to  waste  so  much  treasure  and  blood 
for  a  most  contemptible  man?"  ^ 

In  spite  of  all  pleas  for  delay,  the  king  was  condemned  and 
executed.    Brissot  made  no  further  efforts  to  avoid  war,  but 

1  Moniteur,  January  24,  1792.  During  the  trial  the  reports  of  the  meetings 
of  the  Convention  were  signed  by  Girey-Dupre,  who  wrote  in  explanation: 
"Brissot  est  son  juge,  comme  representant  du  peuple;  it  ne  faut  pas  quil  soil 
soupqonne  de  le  juger  comme  journaliste." 


324  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

instead  renewed  his  demands  for  hostilities  with  England,  de- 
claring that  war  was  now  inevitable,  but  laying  on  England 
the  blame  for  it.  And  on  February  1,  1793,  on  the  motion  of 
the  Committee  of  General  Security,  presented  by  Brissot,  the 
Convention  declared  war  on  England  and  Holland.*  For  a  re- 
turn to  his  previous  position,  Brissot  was  in  a  measure  justi- 
fied. War  had  indeed  become  inevitable,  but  it  was  not  only 
the  execution  of  the  king  but  the  whole  aggressive  policy  of 
France  that  had  made  it  so,  and  it  was  Brissot  who,  as  a  G iron- 
din,  had  largely  directed  that  policy.^ 

This  propaganda  of  political  equality,  which  was  resulting 
in  war,  had,  as  M.  Jaures  points  out  in  his  Histoire  socialiste, 
turned  thought  more  and  more  to  questions  of  social  equality. 
"As  political  equality,"  says  M.  Jaures,  "became  a  more 
certain  fact,  it  was  social  inequality  which  gave  most  offense. 
The  Revolution,  by  the  death  of  the  king,  by  the  universal 
war,  assumed  growing  responsibilities  for  humanity.  How 
could  it  meet  these  responsibilities  if  it  did  not  demonstrate  to 
all  men  that  it  truly  desired  the  good  of  all,  and  that  without 
leveling  conditions  it  wished  at  least  to  assure  the  independence 
and  the  well-being  of  the  entire  people."  ^  In  this  question, 
Brissot  was  keenly  interested.  He  had  realized  the  suspicion  to 
which  the  advocates  of  equality  would  be  exposed  —  that  of 
being  hostile  to  the  right  of  property.  Indeed,  he  had  already 
been  attacked  on  that  ground  and  had  vigorously  defended 
himself.  But  while  upholding  the  right  of  property,  he  was 
intensely  democratic  in  his  sympathies,  both  politically  and 

1  Moniteur,  February  2,  1793.  For  an  account  of  the  English  point  of  view 
see  Rose,  William  Pitt  and  the  Great  War. 

2  The  Girondins  meanwhile  had  been  engaged  in  drawing  up  a  constitution. 
Curiously  enough,  considering  his  interest  in  constitution-making,  Brissot 
seems  to  have  had  very  little  to  do  with  the  preparation  of  this  one.  He  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  committee  entrusted  with  the  work,  but  his  place 
was  soon  taken  by  Barbaroux.  Aulard,  Histoire  politique,  280.  M.  Aulard 
does  not  state  his  authority.  While  a  member  of  this  committee  Brissot  man- 
aged to  have  his  friend,  David  Williams  (see  p.  25),  invited  to  come  over  to 
France  to  aid  in  drawing  up  the  constitution.  Brissot,  Correspondance,  305-06. 

'  Jaures,  Histoire  socialiste,  v,  1012-15. 


THE   CONVENTION  325 

socially.   His  democratic  point  of  view  is  well  summed  up  in 
an  article  in  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  December  28,  1792,  en- 
titled L'JSgalite  de  fait.    In  every  democracy,  he  argued,  the 
laws  ought  to  destroy  and  prevent  too  great  de  facto  inequality 
between  citizens.    At  the  same  time  institutions  favorable  to 
equality  ought  to  be  introduced  without  commotion,  without 
violence,  and  with  all  due  respect  for  the  first  of  the  social  rights, 
property.    "The  division  of  land  proposed  by  the  anarchists," 
he  continued,  "or  the  Coblenziens,  would  be  a  fatal  measure; 
it  would  be  unjust,  useless,  and  murderous :  unjust,  in  that  it 
would  despoil  the  legitimate  owners;  useless,  because  the  next 
day  after  the  division,  the  indolence,  the  luxury  of  the  majority 
would  bring  about  again,  by  means  of  sales,  the  inequality  of 
possession;    mm-derous,  in  that  before  the  division  was  fin- 
ished, citizens  would  cut  each  others'  throats;  in  that,  again, 
all  industry  would  be  extinguished  and  that  within  a  little 
while  millions  of  citizens  would  perish  of  famine  and  misery." 
There  were  other  measures,  he  went  on,  which  were  less 
dangerous  and  at  the  same  time  more  conducive  to  real  equality. 
Aside  from  equality  of  inheritance  between  children,  which  he 
assumed  was  beyond  question,  he  would' propose  the  abolition 
of  all  inheritance  in  the  collateral  line.    Property  bequeathed  in 
this  way  should  revert  to  the  state  and  should  be  distributed 
every  year,  in  each  district,  to  virtuous  and  industrious  young 
people.  There  would  be  no  injustice  in  this  measure,  he  argued. 
To  allow  a  man,  during  his  lifetime,  to  use  his  property  as  he 
pleased  was  just,  but  to  permit  him  to  control  it  after  his  death 
was  most  unjust.   The  rights  and  duties  of  man  derived  their 
origin  from  the  needs  of  the  human  race;  a  man  after  his  death, 
having  no  more  needs,  could  have  no  more  rights.  That  a  logi- 
cal application  of  this  principle  would  lead  to  the  abolition  of 
all  inheritance,  Brissot  admitted.    It  was   true   that  children 
were  allowed  to  inherit  the  property  of  their  fathers  only  by  a 
concession  of  society,  but  since  the  relation  between  father  and 
child  was  peculiarly  intimate,  it  was  a  concession  which  society 
might  legitimately  make.   The  abolition  of  inheritance  in  the 


326  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

collateral  line  need  therefore  arouse  no  fear,  in  the  minds  of 
the  cautious,  of  an  abolition  of  all  inheritance. 

As  a  second  step  toward  equality,  Brissot  proposed  to  ex- 
empt from  all  taxation  what  was  necessary  for  the  physical 
life  of  every  citizen.  Humanity  and  equity,  he  declared,  cried 
aloud  for  such  a  law.  Taxes  should  be  borne  by  the  rich ;  should 
touch  only  factitious  needs;  they  should  not  be  laid  on  physical 
necessities.  The  result  of  such  a  reform  would  be  less  unhap- 
piness,  less  inequality.^ 

But  while  thus  engaged  in  trying  to  further  social  readjust- 
ment in  the  interests  of  democracy,  Brissot  saw  its  dangers, 
especially  when  it  came  to  practical  application.  In  the  hands 
of  real  patriots,  among  whom  he  included  himself,  he  was  con- 
vinced that  democracy  w^ould  not  be  in  any  respect  harmful,  but 
under  the  influence  of  interested  and  unscrupulous  leaders,  the 
people  might  easily  be  flattered  into  an  undue  sense  of  their 
own  importance  and  led  into  excess.  In  fact,  this  had  already 
occurred,  he  declared,  and  in  an  article  entitled  "Z)e  la  marche 
des  agitaieurs"  published  in  the  Chronique  du  Mois  of  Janu- 
ary, 1793,  he  tried  to  throw  the  responsibility  for  popular  dis- 
content upon  his  opponents.  There  was  a  division  among  the 
patriots,  he  asserted;  they  had  fought  together  against  royalty, 
but  they  had  not  the  same  principles.  The  one  party  "sees  in 
the  new  revolution  the  overturning  of  royalty,  the  establish- 
ment of  the  republic,  and  in  the  republic  the  perfection  of 
human  reason,  the  restitution  of  the  worthy  poor  to  a  life 
of  comfort;  they  see  in  it  a  perfect  equality  of  rights,  but  an 
equality  based  upon  law,  upon  respect  for  property  and  secu- 
rity, upon  submission  to  constituted  authority.  That  is  not  the 
idea  of  men  who,  despite  the  fact  that  they  possess  neither 
talent  nor  virtue,  dare  to  aspire  to  high  position  and  are  filled 
with  ambition." 

A  striking  instance  of  the  application  of  theories  of  equality 
had  occurred  in  the  case  of  the  workmen  who  were  engaged  on 

*  Patriotc  Franqais,  December  29,  1792,  quoted  in  Jaurcs,  Uidoire  socialiste, 
IV,  1010-15. 


THE  CONVENTION  327 

the  camp  for  the  federes  at  Paris.  It  was  also  a  striking  instance, 
according  to  Brissot,  of  the  pernicious  influence  of  the  agitators. 
Under  what  was  the  virtual  dictation  of  unscrupulous  persons, 
these  unfortunate  workmen  had  presented  a  petition  in  which 
they  had  compared  the  smallness  of  their  pay  with  the  enor- 
mous compensation  accorded  to  the  deputies  of  the  Convention, 
and  had  demanded  that,  as  they  both  were  working  for  the  na- 
tion, their  salaries  should  be  adjusted  more  equitably.^  But. 
although  Brissot  decidedly  disapproved  of  these  specific  de- 
mands, he  was  in  favor,  as  is  evident  from  his  proposals  cited 
above,  of  greater  equalization  of  classes. 

But  at  the  same  time  he  was  for  equalization  only  in  so  far 
as  it  could  be  brought  about  without  injuring  the  rights  of  any 
one  class.  For  instance,  apropos  of  a  special  war  tax  which  it 
was  proposed  to  lay  on  the  rich,  the  Patriote  Franqais  ^  re- 
marked with  regret  that  there  would  be  no  more  equality,  since 
the  taxes  would  no  longer  be  the  same  for  all  in  proportion  to 
their  ability  to  pay,^  and  a  few  days  later  the  editor  proposed, 
as  a  substitute,  the  principle  of  progressive  taxation.  Again, 
the  Patriote  Franqais  approved  the  opposition  of  Barbaroux 
and  Buzot  to  the  forced  loan  of  two  hundred  million  francs 
from  the  rich, ^  and  denounced  the  law  of  the  maximum  as  in- 
volving an  attack  on  the  rights  of  property.* 

It  may  be  objected  that  this  hostile  attitude  on  the  part  of 
the  Girondins  was  actuated,  not  so  much  by  the  nature  of  the 
measures  proposed  as  by  the  fact  that  they  were  proposed 
by  their  enemies  —  the  Mountain.  This  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  true,  however,  in  their  attitude  at  first  —  whatever  it  may 
have  been  a  few  weeks  later  —  toward  the  establishment  of  the 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  October  6,  1792. 

*  Brissot  had  by  this  time  been  forced  to  abandon  the  editorship  of  the 
Patriote  Frangais,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  continued  to  represent  his  pol- 
icy. 

'  Patriote  Franqais,  March  11,  1792. 

*  Ibid.,  May  22,  1793.  See  also  Gomel,  Histoire  financi^re  de  la  Convention, 
I,  485-88. 

*  Patriote  Franqais,  April  29,  May  1,  1793. 


328  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

agencies  of  the  Terror.  The  Patriote  Frangais,  though  it  ob- 
jected to  the  pubHcity  of  the  votes  of  the  jurors  and  the  sever- 
ity of  the  rules  regulating  it,  offered  no  persistent  opposition 
to  the  establishment  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal,^  and  of  the 
establishment  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  it  spoke  with 
indifference.^  The  agencies  by  which  the  government  was  to 
be  carried  on  seemed  less  important  to  the  contending  parties 
than  did  the  agents,  and  neither  party  in  the  eyes  of  the  other 
was  fit  to  be  trusted  with  the  reins  of  government,  —  the 
Mountain  because  they  were  demagogues  and  anarchists,  the 
Girondins  because  they  were  federalists  and  royalists.  And 
now  that  the  war  problem  was  becoming  more  critical,  the 
struggle,  which  had  been  going  on  since  the  opening  of  the  Con- 
vention but  which  had  been  less  bitter  during  the  discussion  on 
foreign  relations  and  the  king's  trial,  was  renewed  with  violence 
and  became  a  combat  to  the  death,  with  no  quarter. 

In  this  combat,  Brissot  was  one  of  the  most  active  fighters. 
Early  in  February,  a  special  attack  was  made  on  him  based  on 
a  letter  in  the  possession  of  the  Committee  of  General  Secu- 
rity, said  to  be  signed  "Brissot  de  Warville"  and  containing 
distinctly  royalist  sentiments.  Brissot  defended  himself  in  his 
paper,  declaring  that  he  had  not  signed  himself  "Brissot  de 
Warville"  since  June  19,  1791,^  and  on  February  15,  he  reiter- 
ated his  defense  before  the  Convention.  The  letter,  he  as- 
serted, was  found  among  the  papers  of  one  of  the  committees 
of  the  Commune,  was  originally  signed  "  Watteville,"  and  some 
malicious  person  had  changed  "Watteville"  to  "Warville"  and 
had  prefixed  "Brissot  de."  How  it  had  come  into  the  hands  of 
the  Committee  of  General  Security  he  did  not  know.  To  this 
defense  Bazire  replied  that  the  letter  did  not  come  from  the 
Commune,  but  that  it  was  discovered  among  the  papers  of  La- 
porte;  that  the  original  signature  was  "Brissot  de  Warville"; 
that  the  whole  signature  was  evidently  written  by  the  same 
hand  and  at  the  same  time  and  with  the  same  ink,  and  that  an 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  March  12,  13,  1793.       "  Ibid.,  March  28,  1793. 
»  Ibid.,  February  11,  1793. 


THE  CONVENTION  329 

effort  had  been  made  to  erase  it.  After  a  violent  dispute  Bris- 
sot  won  a  temporary  victory,  by  securing  the  passage  of  a  de- 
cree which  instead  of  deciding  the  matter  at  once  referred  it  to 
a  committee  for  investigation.^ 

A  few  weeks  later,  the  Mountain  made  a  general  onslaught 
on  the  Girondin  newspapers.  Jeanbon  Saint- Andre  led  the 
attack  by  his  speech  on  March  8.  "On  the  pretext  of  an  ap- 
parent impartiality,"  he  declared,  "like  the  iron  bed  of  the  old 
tyrant,  they  stretch  out  or  mutilate  to  suit  their  taste  the 
opinions  which  are  set  forth  at  the  tribune.  They  cut  the  ideas 
of  the  members  who  displease  them  in  order  to  favor  one  side 
and  to  present  the  other  under  the  most  unfavorable  hght. 
They  mislead  public  opinion,  they  cruelly  abuse  the  liberty 
which  we  accord  to  the  press."  ^  As  a  result  of  this  speech  it 
was  decreed  the  following  day  "that  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion who  conduct  newspapers  must  choose  between  the  profes- 
sion of  journalist  and  that  of  representative  of  the  people."  ' 
Brissot  chose  the  second  alternative,  and  from  this  time  the 
Patriote  Frangais  was  conducted  under  the  direction  of  Girey- 
Dupre.  But,  although  Brissot's  nominal  connection  with  the 
paper  ceased,  it  continued  to  represent  his  views  and  to  be  an 
organ  of  the  Girondin  party.* 

Meanwhile  the  failure  of  Dumouriez's  campaign  in  Belgium 
had  aroused  the  mob  of  Paris,  and  on  March  9  they  led  a  popu- 
lar movement  against  the  Girondins,  which  was  the  prelude  of 
the  events  of  May  31  and  June  1.  Brissot,  on  hearing  the  news, 
rushed  off  to  warn  the  ministers  of  what  was  going  on.^  He 
had  reason  to  be  alarmed;  for  the  mob,  not  content  with  the 
decree  of  the  Convention  against  the  Girondin  newspapers, 
took  the  matter  into  their  own  hands  and  began  to  break  the 

'  Moniteur,  February  17, 1793.  See  also  Proces-verbal  de  la  Convention,  vol- 
ume for  February,  p.  246. 

2  Moniieur,  March  10,  1793.  »  Ibid.,  March  11,  1793. 

*  According  to  the  testimony  of  Girey-Dupre  at  the  trial  of  Marat,  Brissot 
carefully  observed  the  law  and  never  furnished  him  with  any  material  to  be 
inserted  in  the  Patriote  Franqais.   Bulletin  du  tribunal  revolutionnaire,  no.  17. 

'  Louvet,  Mimoires,  ed.  by  Aulard,  i,  77. 


330  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

presses.  It  might  naturally  be  supposed  that  the  Patriote 
Frangais  would  be  one  of  the  first  attacked,  but  for  some  rea- 
son, never  clearly  explained,  it  escaped  and  the  whole  move- 
ment failed.^  But  the  attacks  on  the  Girondins  did  not  cease. 
Under  the  incentive  of  the  Cordeliers,  several  of  the  sections 
of  Paris  denounced  the  Girondins  to  the  Convention.  "The 
evacuation  of  Belgium,"  their  address  declared,  "is  the  work 
of  an  impious  faction  which  paralyzes  the  Convention,  The 
success  of  the  enemies  of  France  is  due  to  the  traitor  Dumou- 
riez  and  to  the  odious  intrigues  of  the  Rolands,  the  Brissotins, 
and  their  friends,  —  they  ought  to  be  gotten  rid  of  at  any 
price.    ^ 

Danton  was  the  one  man  who  tried  with  any  zeal  to  check 
denunciations  and  substitute  conciliation.  He  first  tried  to 
bring  about  greater  unity  of  action  by  introducing  a  proposi- 
tion in  the  Assembly  on  March  11,  that  the  ministers  should 
be  chosen  from  that  body.  This  to  the  Girondins  seemed 
merely  a  move  toward  a  dictatorship.  "They  [the  Mountain] 
believed,"  wrote  the  Patriote  Frangais,  "that  it  only  remained 
to  ascend  the  throne,  they  are  already  dividing  up  among  them 
the  various  branches  of  the  executive  power  —  Danton 
mounted  the  tribune,  sure  of  his  success ;  he  asked  that  the  Con- 
vention reserve  to  itself  the  right  of  choosing  the  ministers 
from  among  its  own  members.  No  one  doubted  that  Danton 
wished  to  be  first  of  those  ministers;  they  doubted  it  still  less 
when  they  heard  him  swear  by  his  country  that  he  would  never 
accept  a  place  in  the  ministry.  Danton  swearing  by  the  coun- 
try !  The  country  of  an  ambitious  man !  It  seems  to  me  like  an 
atheist  swearing  by  the  Supreme  Being."  ^ 

At  the  same  time  Danton  tried  to  come  to  some  agreement 
with  the  Girondins.  In  the  case  of  Garat,  the  minister  of  jus- 
tice, who,  though  not  of  the  inner  circle,  had  been  allied  with 

1  Brissot  in  A  ses  Commettans  assailed  Garat,  the  minister  of  justice  and  a 
former  ally  of  the  Girondins,  for  not  having  taken  steps  against  the  conspira- 
tors. 

*  Mortimer  Ternaux,  llistoire  de  la  Terreur,  vi.  194. 

»  Patriote  Frangais,  March  18,  1793. 


THE  CONVENTION  331 

them,  he  seems  to  have  met  with  some  response,  "I  was  al- 
ways saying  to  the  members  of  the  two  sides,"  writes  Garat 
in  his  memoirs,  "drown  your  hatred  and  your  quarrels,  and 
then  you  can  manage  everything  and  all  will  be  done  accord- 
ing to  law."  •  According  to  Marat,  Guadetalso  wanted  con- 
ciliation and  tried  to  flatter  Danton,  but  all  other  authorities 
agree  that  it  was  Guadet  who  refused  to  make  peace.  The 
Patriote  Frangais,  now  under  the  direction  of  Girey-Dupre, 
denied  with  heat  the  assertion  that  Guadet  had  tried  to  flatter 
Danton  and  declared,  on  the  contrary,  that  Guadet  had  at- 
tacked Danton  as  a  plotter  and  intriguer.  ^  Brissot  was  also 
approached  and,  according  to  his  testimony  at  his  trial,  he  was 
quite  willing  to  discuss  the  matter.  "Several  times  there  was 
a  question  of  reunion  among  the  patriots,"  he  testified.  "To 
that  end  I  had  two  meetings  with  Danton.  Robespierre  had 
been  invited  to  join  us,  but  he  did  not  come.  We  entered  into 
an  explanation  of  our  principles.  Danton  said  to  me:  'We  fear 
only  one  thing  so  far  as  you  are  concerned,  that  you  are  in  favor 
of  federalism.'  I  had  no  difiiculty  at  all  in  proving  to  him  that 
that  fear  had  little  ground,  and  we  separated  each  satisfied  with 
the  other."  ^  Brissot's  attitude  as  reflected  in  these  remarks 
appears  to  be  rather  favorable  to  conciliation,  but  it  is  to  be 
observed  that  here  he  was  chiefly  concerned  in  disproving  the 
charge  of  federalism.  In  his  address  to  his  constituents,  he 
took  a  decidedly  different  tone  and  apropos  of  Garat's  willing- 
ness to  join  in  conciliation,  spoke  with  vehemence  of  the  im- 
possibility of  "establishing  a  permanent  alliance  between  vir- 
tue and  crime." 

At  all  events,  Dan  ton's  attempt  came  to  naught,  and  when 
to  the  failure  of  the  campaign  in  Belgium  was  added  the  actual 
treason  and  flight  of  Dumouriez,  conciliation  was  no  longer 
possible.  Instead,  the  battle  between  the  Girondins  and  the 
Mountain  was  waged  with  redoubled  fury.    The  Mountain, 

^  Garat,  Memoir es  sur  la  Revolution,  94. 

2  Patriote  Frangais,  March  24,  1793. 

^  Moniteur,  October  27,  1793,  Supplement. 


332  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

wild  with  rage,  declared  that  Dumouriez  and  the  Girondins 
had  formed  a  vast  conspiracy  to  restore  monarchy  in  France 
and  to  annihilate  the  republicans  with  the  Republic.  On  the 
3d  of  April,  Robespierre  specifically  charged  Brissot  with  being 
implicated  in  the  diabolical  plot.  "  Brissot,"  argued  the  "  Incor- 
ruptible," "was  and  is  the  intimate  friend  of  Dumouriez;  Brissot 
has  never  lost  an  occasion  for  defending  Dumouriez;  Brissot 
and  Dumouriez  together  first  proposed  the  war  with  Austria; 
Brissot  and  his  partisans  made  Dumouriez  commander-in- 
chief;  Brissot  holds  in  his  hands  all  the  threads  of  this  wicked 
conspiracy.  The  first  measure  of  public  safety  to  be  taken  is 
to  indict  all  those  who  are  accused  of  complicity  with  Dumou- 
riez and  notably  Brissot."  To  this  attack  Brissot  replied  on 
the  spot,  but  his  defense  lacked  cogency  and  ingenuousness. 
He  denied  in  toto  that  he  had  assisted  in  any  way  in  procuring 
Dumouriez's  appointment  to  the  ministry,  and  he  threw  the 
blame  for  the  war  upon  the  Legislative  Assembly,  ignoring  his 
own  part  both  in  that  body  and  in  the  Convention  as  an  ad- 
vocate of  war.  In  his  reply  to  the  accusation  of  wishing  to  re- 
establish the  monarchy,  he  omitted  to  mention  his  attitude  at 
the  crisis  of  the  Revolution,  but  based  his  defense  upon  a  part 
of  his  career  which  in  no  way  affected  existing  events.  "Can 
a  man  be  accused  of  loving  kings,"  he  asked,  "who  was  de- 
voted to  republicanism  a  long  time  before  his  accuser;  a  man 
who  in  1782  was  shut  up  in  the  Bastille  for  having  put  forth 
principles  then  frowned  upon;  a  man  who  in  1788  quitted  his 
country  to  go  to  the  United  States  to  breathe  the  air  of  liberty, 
and  especially  to  prevent  his  children  from  being  contami- 
nated by  the  presence  of  a  tyrant?" 

The  charge  of  treasonable  complicity  with  Dumouriez  had 
no  real  ground,  but  the  Girondins  and  Brissot  in  particular  had 
been  in  friendly  relations  with  Dumouriez,  and  his  desertion 
furnished  the  Mountain  with  exactly  what  they  needed  for  a 
telling  accusation.  Only  a  few  days  before  his  desertion,  the 
Patriote  Frangais  had  praised  him  to  the  skies,  and  at  the  same 
time  cast  aspersions  on  the  motives  of  the  Jacobins  for  speak- 


THE  CONVENTION  333 

ing  of  him  with  high  praise.  "That  faction  thinks,"  declared 
the  Patriote  Frangais,  "that  by  unworthy  flatteries  it  can  win 
over  to  its  side  a  man  whom  it  fears.  It  flatters  him  because 
the  heroes  of  the  2d  of  September  do  not  dare  to  measure 
themselves  up  against  the  hero  of  the  20th  of  September.  But 
this  is  an  idle  hope.  Dumouriez  is  not  going  to  mingle  his  lau- 
rels with  their  cypress.  Dumouriez  loves  glory,  he  would  not 
be  willing  to  share  their  infamy.  Dumouriez  loves  his  country, 
he  will  save  it  in  company  with  the  republicans,  he  will  not 
destroy  it  in  company  with  the  anarchists. "  ^  After  such  an 
outburst  on  the  part  of  the  Patriote  Frangais,  the  desertion  of 
Dumouriez  was  a  staggering  blow  to  the  Girondins. 

The  opportunity  was  too  good  to  be  lost,  and  was  seized  by 
the  Mountain  and  their  adherents  in  the  Commune.  On  April  8 
the  section  of  Bonconseil  sent  a  delegation  to  the  Convention, 
demanding  that  Brissot  and  his  adherents  be  brought  to  trial. 
A  few  days  later,  Robespierre  furiously  attacked  the  Girondins, 
while  Vergniaud,  Guadet,  and  Petion  repelled  the  assault  and 
hurled  back  the  accusation  of  bad  faith  and  treasonable  in- 
tent. ^  Henceforth  the  struggle  between  the  parties  became 
more  violent.  The  Girondins  assailed  Marat  as  the  most  vul- 
nerable of  their  enemies  and  concentrated  their  attacks  upon 
him.  Considering  the  nature  of  his  assaults  on  members  of 
their  party,  they  had  good  reason  for  indignation.  For  instance, 
such  an  attack  as  appeared  in  the  Ami  du  Peuple  of  February 
12,  1793,  would  naturally  arouse  their  wrath:  "Persons  who 
are  well  informed  state  that  Brissot  is  enormously  rich,  in  spite 
of  the  airs  of  poverty  which  he  affects.  He  is  said  to  have  in- 
vested eight  hundred  thousand  livres  in  the  Bank  of  London, 
and  it  is  stated  as  an  established  fact  that  his  wife  has  just  ac- 
quired three  fine  houses  in  the  best  quarter  of  London."  ' 

1  Patriote  Frangais,  March  12,  1793.  ^  Moniteur,  April  12,  1793. 

*  "Les  personnes  instruites  assurent  que  Brissot  est  enormement  riche,  malgre 
les  airs  de  pauvrete  qu  'il  affiche.  II  passe  pour  avoir  place  800,000  livres  sur  la 
banque  de  Londres,  et  on  donne  pour  unfait  constant  que  safemme  vient  defaire 
V acquisition  de  trois  bcUes  maisons  dans  le  plus  beau  quartier  de  Londres."  UAmi 
du  Peuple,  February  12,  1793. 


S34  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  Girondins  still  possessed  a  majority  in  the  Convention, 
and  on  April  13,  by  almost  superhuman  efforts,  they  carried  a 
vote  sending  Marat  before  the  revolutionary  tribunal  for  trial.  ^ 
Marat  immediately  retaliated,  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Conven- 
tion denounced  "Dumouriez  and  his  accomplices"  in  the  Con- 
vention itself,  —  namely,  Salle,  Barbaroux,  Gensonne,  La- 
rousse,  Brissot,  Guadet,  Buzot,  and  Vergniaud,  —  for  having 
demanded  a  decree  of  accusation  against  him.  He  declared, 
further,  that  he  would  regard  the  decree  rendered  against  him 
as  legitimate  only  when  a  like  decree  should  be  rendered  against 
those  whom  he  accused,  and  that  only  then  would  he  obey  the 
decree  which  put  him  under  arrest.  ^  Brissot,  on  his  part,  ap- 
parently could  not  let  Marat  alone.  One  of  the  witnesses  at 
the  trial  of  Marat  had  testified  that  a  notice  had  appeared 
in  the  Patriote  Frangais  of  April  16  to  the  effect  that  a  young 
Englishman,  who  had  lately  come  to  France  in  order  that  he 
might  enjoy  the  liberty  there  established,  had  committed  sui- 
cide when  he  found  that  Marat  had  destroyed  that  liberty. 
Girey-Dupre,  the  editor  of  the  Patriote  Frangais,  was  then 
questioned  and  admitted  that  he  had  received  the  note  from 
Brissot,  but  that  the  responsibility  for  its  insertion  in  the  Pa- 
triote Franqais  was  his  own.^  An  attempt  was  then  made  to 
bring  Brissot  before  the  tribunal,  but,  although  a  note  was  sent 
to  the  president  of  the  Convention,  demanding  that  Brissot  be 
summoned  to  give  testimony,  the  Convention  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  it  and  Brissot  did  not  testify.  The  Girondins,  mean- 
while, waited  with  supreme  confidence  Marat's  conviction. 
Their  disappointment  and  dejection  were  correspondingly  great 
when  the  tribunal  acquitted  Marat  and  the  rabble  bore  him 
back  in  triumph  to  the  Convention. 

This  was  a  decisive  blow  to  the  Girondins.  At  the  same  time 
they  received  another  blow  —  an  address  from  the  sections  of 
Paris  demanding  the  dismissal  of  twenty-two  Girondin  mem- 
bers of  the  Convention,  Brissot 's  name  heading  the  list  of  the 

^  Moniteur,  April  16,  1793.       *  Archives  parlementaires,  lxii,  23-24. 
*  Bulletin  du  tribunal  rholuiionnaire,  nos.  16,  17. 


THE  CONVENTION  335 

proscribed.  This  address,  as  well  as  the  denunciations  which 
Robespierre  had  made  in  his  speech  a  few  days  before,  Brissot 
hastened  to  answer.  At  the  head  of  his  pamphlet  of  defense, 
he  placed  a  quotation  from  Rousseau  as  summarizing  his  own 
position:  "I  am  growing  old  in  the  midst  of  my  furious  enemies, 
without  losing  either  courage  or  patience.  My  only  defense 
is  to  present  to  heaven  a  heart  free  from  guile  and  from  all 
evil."  He  then  launched  into  a  general  defense,  which  in  its 
efforts  to  tlirow  the  blame  on  others  was  hardly  in  keeping  with 
the  lofty  tone  of  his  text.  Whatever  the  accusation,  it  was  not 
he  himself  who  was  guilty.  It  was  not  he  who  had  chosen 
Dumouriez  for  the  ministry,  it  was  Petion  who  had  recom- 
mended Miranda,  it  was  the  Convention  which  was  respon- 
sible for  the  war.  It  was  true,  he  admitted,  that  he  had  sus- 
tained Dumouriez  as  long  as  he  had  shown  good  principles, 
but  since  May,  1792,  he  had  written  to  him  only  twice.  ^  As 
for  complicity  with  Orleans,  he  had  advised  him  through  Sil- 
lery  to  banish  himself  voluntarily,  and  had  voted  for  his  ex- 
pulsion. The  charge,  moreover,  that  he  had  been  suborned 
by  Pitt,  either  to  maintain  the  king  upon  the  throne  or  to  save 
his  life,  was  absolutely  without  foundation.  It  was  not  the 
king  but  France  he  was  trying  to  save.  And  finally,  the  charge 
of  leadership  on  his  part  was,  he  declared,  not  only  false  but 
ridiculous.  2 

However  true  his  assertions  may  be  in  the  main,  this  last 
statement  hardly  seems  consistent  with  his  well-known  activ- 
ities and  shows  a  not  altogether  courageous  desire  to  sink 
into  the  background. 

The  acquittal  of  Marat  and  the  denunciations  of  the  sec- 
tions to  which  the  above  was  an  answer  mark  the  beginning  of 
the  end.  Paris  was  now  all  but  unanimous  against  the  Giron- 
dins.  The  situation  was  one  which  demanded  desperate  reme- 

1  M.  Perroud,  in  his  Correspondance  de  Brissot,  314-20,  gives  three  letters 
written  by  Brissot  to  Dumouriez  within  this  time. 

2  J.  P.  Brissot,  depute  a  la  Convention,  sur  la  denonciation  de  Robespierre 
et  sur  I  'adresse  pretee  aux  quaranie-huit  sections  de  Paris. 


336  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

dies.  The  Girondins  decided  to  stake  all  upon  a  single  throw, 
and  on  May  18  Guadet  presented  a  motion  that  the  Commune 
be  dissolved  and  that  the  substitute  delegates  to  the  Conven- 
tion be  summoned  to  meet  at  Bourges.  But,  at  the  critical 
moment,  the  Girondins  lost  heart  and  abandoned  their  own 
motion  for  a  substitute  motion  offered  by  Barere,  ordering  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  of  twelve  which  should  report  on 
the  safety  of  the  Convention.  In  the  composition  of  this  com- 
mittee, they  won  a  temporary  success,  for  all  its  members  were 
Girondins,  but  it  was  not  a  permanent  victory. 

This  demand  for  an  appeal  to  the  provinces  and  for  the 
election  of  a  new  Convention  gave  strength  to  the  accusation 
of  federalism  which  had  already  been  hurled  at  the  Girondins 
and  which  from  this  time  on  was  made  the  chief  charge  of  their 
indictment.  It  was  now  skillfully  used  by  Camille  Desmoulins, 
who,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  Fragment  de  Vliistoire  secrete  de 
la  revolution,  or  as  it  was  afterward  called  Histoire  des  Brissotins, 
struck  quite  as  effective  a  blow  as  he  had  given  a  year  before 
in  his  Jeayi  Pierre  Brissot  demasque.  The  attack  was  well  timed, 
the  facts  and  the  illustrations  were  cleverly  introduced,  and 
the  insinuations  made  with  great  skill.  As  the  title  implied, 
it  was  not  only  an  attack  on  Brissot  personally,  but  on  the 
whole  policy  with  which  he  was  connected.  At  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Republic,  Desmoulins  declared,  all  was  favorable 
for  France,  despotism  had  been  swept  away,  liberty  had  been 
enthroned,  the  arms  of  France  were  victorious,  the  Conven- 
tion had  a  glorious  career  before  it.  What  had  prevented  it 
from  fulfilling  this  career?  A  conspiracy.  That  conspiracy  was 
to  be  found  in  the  Convention  and  Brissot  was  the  heart  and 
soul  of  it.  He  and  the  other  Girondins  had  brought  about  for- 
eign war  at  a  time  when  France  was  ill-prepared  for  it.  As  for 
Brissot  himself,  "that  Jeremiah  of  the  2d  of  September,"  he 
had  showed  that  he  was  only  too  ready  to  seek  personal  profit 
from  the  massacres  by  his  complaint  the  very  next  day  to 
the  Executive  Council,  in  the  presence  of  Danton,  that  "they 
had  forgotten  Morande."    Brissot  asserted  that  he  had  little 


THE  CONVENTION  337 

influence  in  obtaining  places  for  his  friends,  but,  sneered  Des- 
moulins,  behold  this  proof  to  the  contrary,  and  he  gleefully 
commented  on  the  letter  written  to  Roland,  in  which  he  in- 
closed a  list  of  those  to  whom  he  would  like  to  have  places 
given,  ^  Brissot,  moreover,  was  the  accomplice  of  Dumouriez 
in  bringing  defeat  to  France  and  in  trying  to  save  the  king, 
with  the  object  of  destroying  the  Republic.  His  real  purpose 
was  to  divide  France  into  twenty  or  thirty  republics,  or  rather, 
if  he  could,  to  overturn  the  republican  government  altogether, 
and  to  set  up  the  Duke  of  Orleans  as  monarch.  The  Mountain, 
declared  Desmoulins,  opposes  Philippe  Egalite  and  has  op- 
posed him  at  every  step,  but  what  is  Brissot's  position.?  He 
was  a  secretary  in  the  house  of  Orleans,  he  was  the  author  of  the 
petition  of  the  Champ  de  Mars,  a  petition  which  he  obviously 
concerted  in  conjunction  with  Lafayette.  Plainly  he  is  an  Orlean- 
ist  and  has  been  one  from  the  beginning.  And,  worse  than  all, 
Brissot  is  in  the  pay  of  Pitt,  and  so  guilty  of  the  crime  of  treason. 

The  whole  pamphlet  showed  the  utmost  ingenuity  and,  like 
Desmoulins's  previous  attack,  it  served  to  blast  the  credit  of 
Brissot  and  of  his  party.  Desmoulins  himself  is  said  to  have 
spoken  of  it  as  both  the  precursor  and  the  manifesto  of  the 
revolution  of  the  31st  of  May.^ 

Brissot,  meanwhile,  proceeded  to  assail  the  Mountain.  Al- 
though his  name  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  lists  of  accused 
persons,  he  took  little  part  in  the  final  struggle  in  the  Conven- 
tion, but,  like  Desmoulins,  waged  a  violent  combat  with  his 
pen.  Deprived  of  the  Pairiote  Frangais  as  a  means  of  utter- 
ance, he  prepared  an  address  in  pamphlet  form  to  his  con- 
stituents. It  did  not,  however,  directly  answer  Desmoulins's 
attack.  Indeed,  from  the  date  of  publication  of  Desmoulins's 
pamphlet,  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  Brissot  had  seen  it  at  the 
time  he  launched  his  own  address.'  While  lacking  the  wit  and 

»  See  p.  292. 

*  See  Desmoulins  et  Roch-Marcandier,  ed.  by  Fleury,  i,  333. 

'  The  Avis  aux  lecieurs  at  the  beginning  of  Brissot's  pamphlet  is  dated  May 
22.  The  Societe  des  Jacobins,  at  the  meeting  of  May  19, 1793,  ordered  the  print- 
ing and  distribution  of  Desmoulins's  address. 


338  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

brilliancy  of  Desmoulins's  Histoire,  it  possesses  clearness  and 
force.  Its  significance  is  twofold.  Unlike  many  of  Brissot's 
political  pamphlets,  it  dealt  not  with  his  personal  career,  but 
with  his  party.  It  showed,  however,  that  his  own  point  of 
view  had  undergone  some  decided  changes.  His  purpose,  he 
declared,  was  to  prove  that  there  existed  a  party  of  disorgan- 
izers  and  anarchists — by  which,  of  course,  he  meant  the  Moun- 
tain, though  he  did  not  use  that  word  —  who  dominated  the 
Convention  and  the  Executive  Council;  that  that  party  was  the 
only  cause  of  all  the  evils  which  afflicted  the  country,  both 
within  and  without,  and  that  the  Republic  could  be  saved  only 
by  the  most  drastic  measures.  Beginning  with  the  defensive, 
he  asserted  that  the  majority  of  the  Convention  —  by  which 
he  meant  the  Girondins,  although  here  again  he  did  not  use 
the  party  name  —  had  sought  to  respect  the  law  and  to  uphold 
constituted  authorities.  To  this  end  they  had  asked  for  a  de- 
partmental guard,  denounced  Robespierre  and  Marat,  banished 
all  the  Bourbons,  censured  the  massacres  of  September,  asked 
for  an  appeal  to  the  people  at  the  trial  of  Louis  XVI,  and  de- 
manded the  convocation  of  the  primary  assemblies.  They  had 
oftentimes  been  frustrated,  however,  by  that  party  of  anar- 
chists which  terrorized  the  Convention.  These  anarchists, 
Brissot  declared,  had  protected  the  Pere  Duchene  and  Marat; 
favored  the  law  of  the  maximum;  raised  the  sans-culottes 
against  the  bourgeois;  used  the  Jacobin  Club  as  an  engine  of 
despotism;  reduced  to  a  state  of  inertia  the  ministers,  notably 
Garat,^  Pache,^  and  Monge;  ^  made  the  revolutionary  tribunal 

1  See  p.  S30. 

*  Jean  Nicholas  Pache  (bom  1746,  died  1825)  became  minister  of  war  under 
the  Girondins  in  1792,  but  as  he  did  not  agree  with  them,  was  replaced  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1793.  He  allied  himself  with  the  Mountain,  became  mayor  of  Paris,  waa 
one  of  the  leaders  in  the  insurrection  of  May  31,  and  for  a  time  was  allied  with 
Hebert,  but  escaped  prosecution.  He  was  subsequently  arrested,  but  profited 
by  the  amnesty  of  1793  and  retired  to  private  life. 

*  Gaspard  Monge,  the  celebrated  French  geometrician,  was  born  in  1746. 
At  the  instigation  of  Condorcet  he  was  named  minister  of  marine  after  August 
10,  which  position  he  held  till  1793.  He  was  denoimced  as  an  ally  of  the  Giron-^ 
dins,  but  escaped  prosecution. 


THE  CONVENTION  339 

an  instrument  of  injustice,  and  favored  its  despotism;  and  by 
asking  for  the  expulsion  of  members  of  the  Convention,  had 
attempted  the  iniquity  of  a  second  Pride's  Purge.  As  the  re- 
sult of  their  machinations,  he  called  to  witness  the  increase  of 
crime,  the  attacks  on  property  and  security,  the  high  price  of 
bread,  the  deficit  in  the  taxes,  and  the  local  disorders.  A  special 
and  far-reaching  cause  for  these  disasters,  he  added,  was  the 
financial  policy,  and,  forgetful  of  his  own  enthusiasm  for  the 
assignats,  he  went  on  to  denounce  their  frequent  and  contin- 
ued issue.  ^  Then,  turning  to  foreign  affairs,  he  upheld  the  war 
with  Austria,  and  denounced  the  war  with  England,  Holland, 
and  Spain,  as  due  to  the  decree  of  November  19,  and  also  to 
the  revolutionary  propaganda  in  general,  the  massacres  of 
September,  and  the  death  of  Louis.  As  for  the  allegation  that 
he  had  been  in  large  part  responsible  for  that  war,  he  declared 
that,  on  the  contrary,  he  had  exhausted  all  his  efforts  in  trying 
to  prevent  it.  But  once  begun,  he  continued,  it  should  have 
been  undertaken  on  a  larger  scale.  Spain  should  have  been  in- 
vaded; she  was  defended  only  by  the  Pyrenees,  which  were  easy 
to  cross,  and  by  men  who  were  brutalized  by  ignorance  and 
by  slavery.  Her  colony  across  the  sea,  Louisiana,  might  have 
been  liberated;  England  might  have  been  easily  and  success- 
fully attacked  in  the  East  or  West  Indies,  or  in  India,  or  again 
through  raising  a  revolt  in  Ireland;  and  the  commerce  of  their 
enemies  ought  to  have  been  attacked  in  the  Mediterranean. 
Where  the  war  was  carried  on  it  was  a  failure.  This  was  due, 
he  declared,  not  only  to  the  mismanagement  of  Pache,  but  to 
the  ideas  of  equality  which  had  permeated  the  army  and  re- 
sulted in  lack  of  discipline,  and  also  in  the  attempt  to  force 
liberty  on  an  unwilling  people.  ^ 

But  since  these  mistakes  had  been  made,  and  France  was 

^  See  p.  151.  It  is  true  that  he  upheld  a  more  conservative  policy  in  regard 
to  the  later  issues. 

*  On  his  attitude  toward  the  decree  of  November  19,  see  p.  311;  on  his  re- 
lation to  the  massacres  of  September,  p.  301;  on  his  speeches  at  the  trial  of 
the  king,  pp.  318-324;  on  his  part  in  bringing  on  war,  chap,  ix;  on  discipline, 
p.  265. 


340  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

now  defeated  abroad,  and  a  prey  to  civil  disorder  within,  what, 
Brissot  asked,  was  the  remedy?  It  was  to  be  found,  he  de- 
clared, in  putting  an  end  to  the  revolutionary  government. 
The  power  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety  must  be  checked, 
and  a  constitution  established.  France  would  be  respected 
abroad  and  have  peace  within  only  when  the  authority  of  an 
irresponsible  committee  should  give  place  to  a  well-ordered 
government  based  on  a  constitution.  But,  to  draw  up  a  con- 
stitution, the  Convention  must  be  free  from  the  control  of 
the  anarchists.  Various  means  of  gaining  this  freedom  had  been 
suggested  which  Brissot  took  up  and  considered  in  turn.  The 
Convention  might  be  transferred  to  Versailles,  but  that  would 
not  do  away  with  the  passions  and  divisions  within;  the  sup- 
pleants  might  be  convoked  in  another  city,  but  they  were  not 
very  numerous  and  the  opinion  of  the  people  could  not  be  ob- 
tained by  that  means;  the  Convention  might  be  increased  in 
numbers,  —  that  would  only  increase  disorder;  a  draft  of  a  new 
constitution  might  be  presented  at  once  to  the  primary  assem- 
blies, but  that  could  hardly  be  done  in  the  existing  turmoil. 
The  most  feasible  thing,  he  concluded,  after  stating  these  vari- 
ous objections,  would  be  to  call  a  new  Convention,  and,  follow- 
ing the  example  of  the  American  Congress  in  providing  for  fed- 
eral control  of  the  capital  city,  insure  its  perfect  independence 
from  any  local  interference.  At  all  events,  the  immediate 
necessity  was  to  provide  by  some  means  or  other  for  the  draw- 
ing up  of  a  constitution  by  a  free  body.^ 

*  The  pamphlet  was  translated  into  English  under  the  title:  "The  Anarchy 
and  Horrors  of  France  displayed  by  a  Member  of  the  Convention."  The  pre- 
face, by  an  ardent  admirer  of  Brissot,  says:  "I  thought  I  could  not  at  this 
crisis  do  my  country  a  more  acceptable  service  than  in  laying  before  it  the  fol- 
lowing faithful  extracts  from  Mons.  Brissot's  address  to  his  constituents.  They 
are  not  the  conjectures  of  the  speculatist,  nor  the  forebodings  of  the  hypochon- 
driac, they  are  neither  the  reveries  of  the  fancy  nor  the  effusions  of  malice; 
but  a  plain  detail  of  facts,  by  one  of  the  principal  actors  in  them,  a  true  pic- 
ture of  France  drawn  by  an  able  artist,  by  one  of  the  most  capable  hands  in 
the  whole  Convention." 

Edmund  Burke  took  a  totally  different  point  of  view.  He  also  published  an 
English  translation  of  the  address  with  a  preface  in  which  he  declared  that  if 
Brissot,  himself  a  Jacobin,  could  draw  such  a  picture,  the  case  against  Jacobin- 


THE  CONVENTION  341 

Just  here  was  the  weak  point  of  the  Girondins.  They  pro- 
posed to  bring  about  order  by  overthrowing  the  revolutionary 
government  and  estabhshing  a  constitution,  and  this  in  the 
face  of  actual  and  widespread  civil  war  at  home  and  a  foreign 
war  which  was  menacing  their  frontiers  from  the  North  Sea 
to  the  Pyrenees.  And  even  granted  that  they  were  right,  they 
were  hopelessly  divided  as  to  the  means  to  be  used.  But  this 
was  no  time  to  talk  about  a  constitution.  If  order  were  to  be 
established  within  and  foreign  foes  repulsed,  not  a  constitu- 
tion, but  immediate  action  by  a  centralized  authority  was 
imperative.  This  the  Mountain  perceived.  They  perceived, 
too,  that  in  the  revolutionary  committee  they  had  that  cen- 
tralized authority,  which  must  be  backed  up  by  force,  if  neces- 
sary, and  force  they  had  at  their  command  in  the  Commune. 
Its  use  was  precipitated  by  Isnard's  ill-timed  challenge  that 
if  any  outrage  should  be  attempted  against  the  Convention, 
wanderers  would  soon  be  searching  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine 
for  the  ruins  of  Paris.  The  Commune  responded  by  seizing 
the  well-tried  weapon  of  popular  insurrection,  and  after  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  on  May  31,  forced  the  Convention  on 
June  2  to  decree  the  arrest  of  the  members  of  the  Committee 
of  Twelve,  two  ministers  and  twenty-two  Girondins.^ 

The  career  of  Brissot  in  the  Convention  was  at  an  end.  But 

ism  was  forever  proved.  Brissot's  testimony,  Burke  declared,  was  that  "of  a 
witness  beyond  all  exception.  ...  It  is  Brissot,  the  republican,  the  Jacobin,  and 
the  philosopher,  who  is  brought  to  give  an  account  of  Jacobinism,  and  of  re- 
publicanism, and  of  philosophy.  It  is  worthy  of  observation  that  this,  his  ac- 
count of  the  genesis  of  Jacobinism,  and  its  effects,  is  not  confined  to  the  period 
in  which  the  faction  came  to  be  divided  within  itself.  In  several  and  these  very 
important  particulars,  Brissot's  observations  apply  to  the  whole  of  the  preced- 
ing period,  before  the  great  schism,  and  whilst  the  Jacobins  acted  as  one  body; 
—  insomuch  that  the  far  greater  part  of  the  proceedings  of  the  ruling  powers  — 
since  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  in  France,  so  strongly  and  so  justly 
reprobated  by  Brissot  —  were  the  acts  of  Brissot  himself  and  his  associates. 
...  A  question  will  naturally  be  asked:  What  could  induce  Brissot  to  draw 
such  a  picture?  He  must  have  been  sensible  it  was  his  own.  The  answer  is  — 
the  inducement  was  the  same  with  that  which  led  him  to  partake  in  perpetra- 
tion of  all  crimes,  the  calamitous  effects  of  which  he  describes  wdth  the  pen  of 
a  master,  —  ambition."  Burke's  Warks  (Boston,  ISS^),  v,  68. 
^  Proces-verbal  de  la  Convention,  volume  for  June,  1793,  p.  29. 


342  BRISSOT  DE  WARVTLLE 

he  was  only  reaping  what  he  had  sown.  As  the  chief  member 
of  the  Diplomatic  Committee,  he  had  incurred  much  of  the 
responsibihty  for  involving  France  in  a  general  European  war; 
and  now,  since  he  and  his  party  proved  themselves  incapable 
of  waging  a  successful  war,  powerless  to  meet  the  danger  they 
had  invoked,  because  they  had  no  settled  policy,  no  united 
plan  of  action,  they  were  rejected  by  the  people,  and  cast  out 
by  the  Convention.  Such  incapacity  was  criminal,  and  it  in- 
volved more  than  their  own  ruin,  for  out  of  this  war  which  they 
created  and  failed  to  direct  sprang  the  Reign  of  Terror;  and 
they,  as  the  creators  of  the  war,  must  bear  in  part  the  dread 
responsibility  of  having  begotten  the  Terror. 

BRISSOT   AND   FEDERALISM 

One  of  the  principal  charges  brought  against  the  Girondins, 
and  particularly  against  the  Buzot  wing  of  the  party,  was  that 
of  federalism.  From  the  opening  of  the  Convention  in  Sep- 
tember, 1792,  throughout  the  remaining  months  of  that  year, 
at  the  trial  of  the  king,  during  the  spring  of  1793,  and  finally 
at  their  trial,  the  Girondins  were  accused  again  and  again  of 
being  federalists.  The  term  "federalism,"  as  used  in  these  ac- 
cusations against  the  Girondins,  meant  an  attempt  to  destroy 
the  unity  of  France.  In  its  wider  significance,  however,  it  was 
employed  to  designate  the  general  hostility  of  the  provinces 
against  Paris.  With  federalism  in  this  latter  sense  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  Girondins  were  in  full  sympathy.  The  ques- 
tion is,  were  they  federalists  in  the  guilty  sense  meant  by  their 
accusers?  Did  they  plot  to  make  France  into  a  confederation 
instead  of  a  republic,  "one  and  indivisible"? 

As  early  as  1789  the  possibility  of  a  confederation  was  sug- 
gested. Witness  an  editorial  which  appeared  in  the  Patriote 
Franqais  of  November,  1789:  "The  stand  which  the  National 
Assembly  has  taken  in  decreeing  the  division  of  France  into 
a  number  of  departments,  between  seventy-five  and  eighty, 
ought  to  remove  the  reproach  which  has  been  made  against  the 
partisans  of  the  cause  of  the  people,  of  wishing  to  divide  France 


THE  CONVENTION  843 

into  a  certain  number  of  confederated  republics.  A  confedera- 
tion of  eighty-five  states  would  be  a  political  monstrosity.  A 
long-continued  harmony  between  so  many  members  of  a  con- 
federacy would  be  a  miracle." 

Accusations  of  intention  to  form  a  confederated  instead  of  a 
unified  republic  were  again  made  in  the  republican  crisis  of 
the  summer  of  1791,  and  again  Brissot  came  forward  promptly 
to  repudiate  the  charge.  "What  madman,"  he  demanded, 
"has  ever  dreamed  of  making  France  into  eighty-three  repub- 
lics? The  republicans,  those  at  least  that  I  know,  desire  only 
a  republic  or  a  representative  government  of  which  the  eighty- 
three  departments  are  eighty-three  fractions,  coordinated  one 
with  the  other,  and  all  meeting  in  a  common  point  —  the  Na- 
tional Assembly."  ^  And  in  his  speech  of  July  10  against  the 
king,  he  reiterated  the  same  sentiments. 

A  year  later  the  struggle  between  the  Legislative  Assembly 
under  the  control  of  the  Girondins  and  the  Jacobin  Commune 
of  Paris  again  brought  up  the  subject  of  the  relation  between 
Paris  and  the  provinces,  and  this  time  it  became  a  distinct 
party  issue,  charges  being  made  specifically  against  the  Giron- 
dins, of  stirring  up  the  provinces  against  Paris,  and  of  striving 
to  prevent  the  establishment  of  a  unified  republic.^  And  when, 
on  the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  a  republic,  one  and  indi- 
visible, was  established,  the  Mountain  immediately  raised  the 
cry  that  the  Girondins  did  not  accept  its  unity  and  indivisi- 
bility, and  were  plotting  for  its  destruction.  This  now  became 
one  of  the  main  points  of  conflict  between  the  parties.  It  was 
brought  to  the  front  again  and  again,  and  was  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  final  downfall  of  the  Girondins. 

One  proof  of  the  charge,  the  Mountain  alleged,  was  the 
efiFort  of  the  Girondins  to  establish  a  departmental  guard.  An- 
other proof  was  found  in  their  alleged  attitude  toward  annexa- 

*  Patriote  Franqais,  July  8,  1791,  quoted  by  Brissot  in  his  Projet  de  defense, 
Memoires,  n,  338-39. 

*  "  Us  veulent,  dit-on,  arriver  d  ww  etat  fedSratif;  or  [sic]  la  guerre  civile  peut 
y  mener."    Pellenc  to  Lamarck,  June  29,  1790.  Glagau,  343. 


344  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

tions.  This  was  presented  with  great  vigor  by  Anacharsis 
Cloots,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  Ni  Marat  ni  Roland.  After 
setting  forth  in  no  complimentary  terms  his  opinion  of  these 
two  men,  Cloots  proceeded  to  report  in  detail  sundry  conver- 
sations with  certain  Girondins.  Rebecqui,  he  declared,  did  not 
want  Nice  added  to  France,  Buzot  thought  a  republic  could 
not  well  be  larger  than  his  own  village,  and  Brissot  considered 
France  already  too  large  and  protested  against  the  addition  of 
Savoy.  All  of  which  showed,  according  to  Cloots,  opposition 
to  the  unity  of  the  Republic  on  the  one  hand,  and  plans  for 
federalism  on  the  other. 

A  third  alleged  evidence  of  federalism  was  the  attempt  of 
the  Girondins  to  procure  a  vote  in  favor  of  an  appeal  to  the 
primary  assemblies  on  the  question  of  the  punishment  of  the 
king.  Such  a  proposition  was  extremely  offensive  to  the  Moun- 
tain, who  believed  that  measures  against  Louis  were  justified 
on  the  ground  of  political  necessity.  They  forthwith  accused 
the  Girondins  of  advocating  the  appeal  to  the  people  with  the 
express  purpose  of  stirring  up  division  and  civil  war.^  Amar 
repeated  this  same  accusation  at  the  time  of  the  trial  of  the 
Girondins,  declaring  that  the  motive  of  the  appeal  to  the  peo- 
ple was  the  wish  to  destroy  the  Republic.^ 

The  hostility  of  the  Girondins  to  the  city  government  of 
Paris  constituted  further  proof  of  federalism  in  the  eyes  of  their 
enemies.  If  this  alone  were  conclusive,  they  would  have  to  be 
pronounced  guilty;  for,  from  August  10,  1792,  when  the  strug- 
gle between  the  Girondin  Committee  of  Twenty-one  began, 
down  to  the  very  last  day  of  their  political  existence  in  the  Con- 
vention, they  were  constantly  at  war  with  the  authorities  of 
Paris.  Specific  instances  of  this  hostility  were  the  accusations 
which  they  made  against  the  Commune  as  responsible  for  the 
massacres  of  September;  their  attack  on  Robespierre  for  his 
alleged  efforts  to  establish  the  dictatorship;  the  attack  made 
by  Buzot,  January  13,  1793,  on  account  of  the  action  of  the 

1  Speech  of  Marat,  January  15,  1793.   Moniteur,  January  19,  1793. 
*  Acte  d' accusation,  October  3,  1793.  Moniteur,  October  25,  1793. 


THE  CONVENTION  345 

Commune  in  closing  the  theaters;  the  speech  of  Buzot,  March 
27,  in  which  he  declared  that  the  representatives  were  only 
ambassadors  ^  from  each  part  of  the  Republic;  the  inoppor- 
tune threat  of  Isnard,  when  he  declared  that  if  anything 
happened  to  the  Convention,  people  would  soon  be  search- 
ing along  the  Seine  to  find  where  Paris  had  once  stood;  and 
finally,  the  numerous  attempts  to  appeal  to  the  provinces, 
either  by  the  convocation  of  the  primary  assemblies  or  by  the 
removal  of  the  Convention  from  Paris. 

The  Girondins,  it  was  further  alleged,  did  not  confine  them- 
selves to  words,  but  were  stirring  up  the  provinces  to  actual 
revolt.  Point  was  given  this  accusation  by  the  protests  and 
addresses  against  Paris  which  began  to  come  in  as  early  as 
October,  1792.  On  the  20th  of  this  month,  the  administrators 
of  the  Department  of  Calvados  sent  an  address  to  the  Conven- 
tion in  which  they  called  down  maledictions  upon  whatever 
part  of  the  Republic  should  try  to  rule  the  whole. ^  On  Janu- 
ary 2,  1793,  this  department  made  another  address  to  the  Con- 
vention. "You  are  represented  as  exposed  to  the  axe  of  the 
executioner,"  they  TVTote.  "Paris,  the  cradle  of  liberty,  is  filled 
with  proud  and  bloody  agitators.  .  .  .  The  citizens  of  Calvados 
in  their  impatience  rise  up,  they  hasten  to  inscribe  their  names 
in  the  civic  registers,  they  want  to  set  out  to  avenge  your  men- 
aced liberty.  .  .  .  They  propose  to  sustain  the  work  of  their 
representatives  or  die."  ^  Within  a  day  or  two  the  administra- 
tive Department  of  the  Haute-Loire  issued  an  appeal  in  terms 
quite  as  emphatic.  "Citizens,"  they  cried,  "the  agitators  of 
Paris  and  the  enemies  of  the  Revolution  are  constantly  con- 
spiring against  it  by  flattering  the  people  into  believing  that 
Paris  is  practically  the  exclusive  sovereign  of  the  republic  of 
which  it  is  only  the  eighty -fourth  part.  It  permits  itself  to  dic- 
tate decrees  to  the  Convention  at  its  pleasure,  and  thus  pre- 
vents it  from  giving  us  a  good  constitution.  The  only  means 
of  remedying  these  abuses  is  to  organize  a  departmental  force 

1  This  was  in  his  speech  of  March  28,  1793.   Moniteur,  March  30,  1793. 

2  Moniteur,  October  21,  1792.  '  Patriate  Frangais,  January  8,  1793. 


346  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

which  shall  be  able  to  protect  our  legislators  and  make  the  law 
effective."  ^  These  appeals  the  Mountain  regarded  as  attacks 
on  the  indivisibility  of  the  Republic  and  a  direct  evidence  of 
federalism,  and  when  the  appeals  were  backed  by  open  insur- 
rection the  Mountain  saw  again  the  hand  of  the  Girondins  and 
triumphantly  asserted  that  there  was  undisputed  proof  of  fed- 
eralistic  design. 

In  the  course  of  this  struggle  the  Girondin  party  had  become 
more  and  more  divided,  but  it  was  the  Buzotins,  not  the  Bris- 
sotins,  who  led  the  movement  of  the  provinces  against  Paris. 
Brissot,  however,  had  been,  and  still  was,  too  prominent  a  fig- 
ure to  escape  popular  wrath  and  oflScial  condemnation.  Accu- 
sations were  brought  against  him  personally,  as  well  as  against 
his  wing  of  the  party.  These  were  reiterated  at  the  time  of  his 
expulsion  from  the  Jacobin  Club  in  October,  1792,  and  in  his 
address  "A  tous  les  repuhlicains  de  France"  he  defended  him- 
self again,  referring  to  his  protests  in  the  summer  of  1791 
against  the  suspicion  of  supporting  a  federated  republic.  He 
had  convinced  Danton,  he  declared,  that  he  did  not  hold  fed- 
eralist principles,  but,  in  spite  of  his  protests,  Robespierre  con- 
tinued to  accuse  him.  As  for  the  alleged  evidence  against  him 
that  he  had  praised  the  Federalist,  it  fell  to  the  ground  because 
that  work  was  not  in  favor  of  a  confederate  government,  but 
distinctly  against  it. 

In  regard  to  the  accusation  made  later,  by  Anacharsis  Cloots, 
that  Brissot,  apropos  of  proposed  annexations,  had  said  that 
France  was  already  too  large  to  be  governed  as  a  unit,^  Brissot 
replied  that  he  had  been  quite  misunderstood,  and  that  the 
only  basis  for  the  statement  which  he  was  alleged  to  have  made 
was  his  opposition  to  Cloots 's  scheme  for  a  universal  republic, 
concerning  which  he  had  said  that  in  case  France  were  to  be 
extended  beyond  the  limits  prescribed  for  her  by  nature,  the 
ideal  was  not  a  universal  republic,  but  a  girdle  of  federated 
republics.  Was  it  not  unfair,  he  asked,  to  judge  him  by  a  single 
remark  like  this,  taken  out  of  its  context.'' 

*  Moniteur,  January  8,  1793.         *  Cloots,  Ni  Roland  ni  Marat. 


THE  CONVENTION  347 

In  spite  of  Brissot's  attempted  repudiation  of  these  charges, 
they  continued  to  be  made  against  him,  and  when  twenty-one 
of  the  Girondins  were  finally  brought  to  trial,  the  indictment 
was  against  "Brissot  and  his  accomplices."  It  was  charged 
that  he  had  advocated  a  departmental  guard,  at  any  rate,  till 
the  last,  when  he  argued  for  an  appeal  to  the  primary  assem- 
blies in  preference;  that  he  had  objected  to  annexation;  that 
he  led  the  demand  for  an  appeal  to  the  people  during  the  trial 
of  the  king;  and  that  he  lent  the  influence  of  his  newspaper  to 
the  attacks  against  Paris.  In  his  Pro  jet  de  defense  he  therefore 
devoted  considerable  space  to  a  reply  to  these  accusations.  It 
was  but  a  reiteration  of  his  former  protest  on  this  subject.  He 
declared  that,  far  from  being  a  federalist,  he  had  attacked  fed- 
eralism even  before  the  existence  of  a  republic,  and  in  support 
of  his  assertions,  pointed  to  his  attitude  in  1791.  When  at  that 
time  a  republic  was  proposed,  and  when  the  cry  was  raised  that 
France  was  too  large  for  a  unified  republic,  and  that  a  federated 
republic  meant  danger  from  internal  anarchy  and  from  foreign 
foes,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  the  danger  and  to  pro- 
test that  no  one  had  any  intention  of  so  dividing  France.  In 
answer  to  the  charge  that  he  had  favored  a  departmental 
guard,  he  laid  stress  on  the  fact  that,  as  soon  as  he  realized  that 
the  project  for  such  a  guard  was  provoking  serious  discord, 
he  promptly  opposed  it.  The  accusation  of  having  calumniated 
Paris  he  repudiated  with  indignation. 

The  Girondins,  as  a  party,  were  quite  as  emphatic  in  their 
defense.  That  their  efforts  to  raise  a  departmental  guard  were 
an  evidence  of  federalism,  they  flatly  denied.  They  had  no 
intention  whatever,  they  declared,  of  using  the  proposed  de- 
partmental guard  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  Republic;  on  the 
contrary,  they  had  demanded  it  for  the  very  purpose  of  secur- 
ing that  unity. ^  It  was  the  same  motive,  they  protested,  which 
influenced  them  to  advocate  an  appeal  to  the  provinces  at  the 
time  of  the  king's  trial,  and  later  an  appeal  to  the  primary 
assemblies  to  elect  another  Convention,  and  which  finally  led 
^  Speech  of  Buzot,  September  25;  Moniteur,  September  26. 


S48  BRISSOT   DE  WARVILLE 

them  to  raise  the  provinces  in  armed  insurrection  against 
Paris.  This  defense  is  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  no  department 
raised  troops  for  the  defense  of  its  own  territory;  no  depart- 
ment declared  itself  independent:  they  were  only  acting  to- 
gether and  for  the  common  interest.  According  to  M.  Dauban, 
the  movement,  instead  of  being  federalistic,  was  but  the  equiv- 
alent of  the  departmental  movement  of  1848,  when  the  na- 
tional guards  from  all  over  France  came  to  fight  the  insurgents 
of  Paris. 

The  origin,  however,  of  the  charge  of  federalism  is  clear 
enough.  In  the  first  place,  many  of  the  Girondins  were  feder- 
alists in  theory;  in  the  second  place,  their  attitude  toward  the 
provinces  gave  abundant  color  to  the  accusation  of  hostility 
to  Paris.  Buzot,  for  example,  in  his  memoirs,  frankly  acknowl- 
edged such  belief  and  appealed  in  support  of  it  to  the  theories 
of  sundry  eighteenth-century  philosophers  and  to  the  example 
of  the  United  States. 

Further,  Buzot  declared,  in  the  course  of  an  argument  with 
Cloots,  that  since  a  man's  patriotism  consists  not  so  much  in 
love  of  the  land  on  which  he  lives  as  in  the  love  of  the  citizens 
with  whom  he  lives,  there  could  be  little  common  enthusiasm 
for  the  country  between  men  separated  by  hundreds  of  leagues. 
Smaller  divisions  were,  therefore,  necessary.^  But  while  re- 
pudiating federal  ideas,  Buzot  used  the  phraseology  of  federal- 
ism and  in  the  same  breath  spoke  of  the  deputies  as  ambassa- 
dors from  the  different  parts  of  the  Republic.  Gorsas,  another 
Girondin,  in  his  newspaper,  the  Courrier  des  Departements, 
demanded  with  surprise  and  indignation  why  federalism  should 
be  regarded  as  a  crime,  and  referred  his  readers  to  the  Esprit 
of  Helvetius.2  And  Brissot,  while  not  advocating  federalism 
for  France,  was  always  holding  up  the  United  States  as  having 
an  ideal  form  of  government. 

But  to  assert  that  the  Girondins  believed  in  federalism  is 
one  thing;  to  explain  what  they  meant  by  it  is  quite  another. 

^  Memoires  de  Madame  Roland,  i,  107-08. 

^  Courrier  des  Departements,  October,  1792,  quoted  by  Bire,  350-51. 


THE   CONVENTION  349 

It  may  be  said  that  as  the  federal  system  of  the  United  States 
was  their  inspiration  and  the  model  which  they  would  have 
liked  to  see  followed  in  France,  one  has  only  to  study  that  sys- 
tem in  order  to  understand  their  position.  But  it  is  extremely 
doubtful  if  they  themselves  understood  the  federal  government 
across  the  water.  To  them  it  was  undoubtedly  much  more  like 
a  confederation  than  a  federation,  and  if  they  had  attempted 
to  copy  it  in  France,  they  would  probably  have  developed  a 
highly  decentralized  organization. 

In  addition  to  their  theories,  there  was  the  further  suspicious 
fact  that  their  attitude  toward  the  provinces  was,  to  put  it 
mildly,  not  out  of  harmony  with  their  theoretical  beliefs.  That 
attitude  may  be  explained  without  reference  to  federalism.  It 
was  a  natural  outcome  of  the  situation  in  the  summer  of  1792. 
In  fact,  at  that  time,  when  the  overthrow  of  the  king  was  under 
consideration,  they  went  so  far  as  to  suggest  the  advantages 
of  federalism  and  began  to  sound  public  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  they  did  little  more  than  suggest  it.  While  they 
were  still  hesitating  and  temporizing,  the  Jacobins,  together 
with  the  Commune  of  Paris,  carried  through  the  insurrec- 
tion of  August  10.  The  events  which  followed,  though  they 
may  be  explained  quite  apart  from  any  connection  with  fed- 
eralism, gave  color  to  the  accusation  that  they  were  still  work- 
ing for  that  particular  form  of  government.  Irritated  at  what 
they  considered  too  great  an  extension  of  the  power  of  Paris, 
the  Girondins  naturally  looked  to  the  provinces,  which,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  were  inclined  to  be  jealous  of  Paris.  This  led 
to  the  renewal  of  the  struggle  under  the  Convention;  the  Giron- 
dins, on  the  one  hand,  seizing  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the 
events  of  the  first  weeks  of  September  to  accuse  the  Mountain 
of  responsibility  for  the  massacres;  and  the  Mountain,  on  the 
other,  seizing  upon  the  alliance  between  the  Girondins  and  the 
provinces  to  accuse  the  latter  of  wishing  to  divide  the  Republic 
and  to  establish  a  federal  system  of  government.  Although 
the  Girondins  stoutly  maintained  that  when  once  the  Republic 
was  established  they  abandoned  any  federative  plans  they 


350  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

might  have  had,  it  was  natural  that  the  Mountain  should 
doubt  their  assertion.  Thus,  the  origin  of  the  charge  of  feder- 
alism is  evident  enough,  but  the  alleged  proof  brought  forward 
by  the  Mountain  in  support  of  it  is  absolutely  insufficient.  As 
is  generally  recognized,  the  Mountain,  although  they  succeeded 
in  expelling  the  Girondins  from  the  Convention  and  in  securing 
their  conviction,  really  failed  to  prove  the  case  against  them. 

What  is  clear,  however,  is  that  despite  their  abandonment 
of  federalism  as  a  form  of  government,  the  policy  of  Brissot 
and  the  other  Girondins  was  decentralizing  in  tendency.  Wit- 
ness Brissot's  attitude  in  the  summer  of  1789.  "It  is  time," 
he  wrote,  "that  the  Parisians  renounce  the  idea  that  the  prov- 
inces ought  to  be  sacrificed  to  them.  That  despotism  which 
all  the  realm  used  to  see  in  Paris  ...  is  no  more.  The  bond 
which  is  to  unite  Paris  to  the  provinces  can  no  more  be  a  bond 
of  slavery,  but  of  fraternity."  ^  Later,  he  disapproved  of  the 
plan  of  Maluet  for  the  dependence  of  local  authorities  on 
the  monarch. 2  And  again,  his  proposition  for  a  council  com- 
posed of  representatives  of  the  departmental  guard  and  for  an 
appeal  to  the  provinces  at  the  time  of  the  king's  trial  and  later 
in  an  efiFort  to  renew  the  Convention,  were  evidences  of  a  pol- 
icy of  decentralization.  In  short,  the  Girondins  represented  as  a 
whole  the  system  of  strong  local  government  established  by  the 
constitution  of  1791  rather  than  the  centralization  which  had 
culminated  in  Louis  XVI.  But  not  only  was  the  whole  trend 
of  French  history  against  them,  but  France  was  now  at  war, 
and  in  time  of  war  to  adopt  and  follow  a  policy  of  decentraliza- 
tion, which  would  with  difficulty  have  had  a  permanent  suc- 
cess only  in  time  of  peace,  did  not  show  far-sighted  and  wise 
statesmanship.  It  was  because  of  this  lack  of  practical  ability 
and  of  their  ill-considered  efforts  at  decentralization  at  a  period 
when  centralization  was  needed,  and  not  because  of  any  attack 
on  the  unity  of  the  Republic,  that  they  so  signally  failed. 

^  Pairiote  Frangais,  August  7,  1789. 

^  Ibid.,  February  23,  1790.  This  may  have  been,  however,  largely  objec- 
tion to  the  power  of  the  king,  as  such,  rather  than  to  centralized  governmentt 


CHAPTER  XII 

ARREST,    TRIAL,    AND   DEATH 

The  events  of  the  last  weeks  of  May  showed  the  fatal  weak- 
ness of  the  Girondins.  The  latter,  it  is  true,  realized  the  grow- 
ing strength  of  the  Mountain,  but,  although  they  foresaw  the 
issue,  they  were  unable  to  do  anything  to  avert  it.  As  Brissot 
pathetically  put  it,  they  discussed  much,  but  they  could  come 
to  no  conclusion. 

It  was  no  longer  a  question  primarily  of  political  principles, 
but  of  personal  safety,  and  the  danger  was  daily  becoming 
more  imminent.  As  early  as  the  19th  of  May,  Brissot  wrote  to 
a  friend  that  they  were  suffering  torturing  anxiety;  that  people 
were  saying  that  enough  cooks  and  cab  drivers  had  been  de- 
capitated; that  it  was  the  heads  of  the  deputies  which  ought 
to  come  off  now;  and  that  such  threats  had  so  terrified  the 
deputies  that  half  of  them  were  afraid  to  sleep  at  home,  lest 
they  might  be  arrested  during  the  night.  ^  Some  of  them  took 
refuge  at  the  home  of  Meillan,  possibly  because  it  was  situated 
in  a  quarter  of  the  city  where  there  was  more  Girondin  sym- 
pathy.2  Brissot  fled  there  on  the  31st  of  May,  and  Vergniaud, 
Gensonne,  Guadet,  and  others  soon  joined  him.  In  momen- 
tary fear  of  arrest,  they  dared  not  go  to  bed  on  the  night  of 
June  1,  but  passed  the  night  in  their  chairs,  getting  what  sleep 
they  could.  The  next  morning  they  gathered  together  as  many 
of  their  friends  as  they  could  reach  and  tried  to  agree  on  a  plan 
of  action.  Some  were  for  going  to  the  Assembly;  others  thought 
that  too  hazardous  and  proposed  that  they  draw  up  a  declara- 

*  Letter  of  Brissot,  May  19,  1793.  Correspondance,  338. 

^  "Plusieurs  des  -proscrits  s'etaient  refugies  chez  moi.  Je  logeais  dans  un  hotel 
vaste  et  presque  inhabite  a  portee  de  la  Convention  et  dans  un  quartier  ou  les  hons 
citoyens  conservaient  encore  de  I' influence.  .  .  .  Potion,  Brissot,  Guadet,  Salles, 
Gensonni,  et  quelques  autres  cederent  enfin  a  nos  instances  et  consentirent  d'atten- 
dre  dans  cet  asile  le  resultat  de  la  seance.''  Meillan,  52. 


352  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

tion  of  principles;  but  despite  the  gravity  of  the  crisis  they 
could  come  to  no  decision.  Instead  of  doing  anything  definite, 
they  spent  the  time  discussing  the  relative  dignity  of  suicide 
or  death  on  the  scaffold;  but  even  here  they  could  not  agree. 
While  they  were  in  the  midst  of  this  discussion,  the  brother  of 
Rabaut  Saint-fitienne  rushed  in,  wildly  excited,  crying  out 
that  the  Convention  was  no  more  and  calling  on  the  deputies 
to  save  themselves.  The  instinct  of  self-preservation  at  once 
asserted  itself,  and  without  waiting  to  decide  either  on  a  com- 
mon form  of  death  or  a  common  line  of  action,  the  deputies, 
with  few  exceptions,  sought  safety  in  precipitate  flight.^ 

The  futile  efforts  and  misdirected  energies  of  the  Girondins 
in  opposing  needed  centralization  may  arouse  contempt,  but 
their  sufferings  in  flight  and  imprisonment  cannot  fail  to 
awaken  sympathy.  The  politician  sinks  into  the  background; 
one  sees  rather  the  human  being  in  a  crisis  which  involves  his 
personal  safety  and  his  very  life.  This  is  emphatically  true  of 
Brissot.  He  fled  with  the  rest  from  the  home  of  Meillan,  and 
his  thoughts  turned  at  once  toward  Chartres,  his  native  city, 
as  a  place  of  refuge,  but  he  was  unable  to  leave  Paris  at  once, 
because  of  the  lack  of  ready  money.^  Where  he  hid  in  Paris  is 
not  known,  but  by  June  4  he  had  managed  to  get  away,  and 
by  the  5th  he  had  reached  Versailles.  Here,  at  the  home  of  one 
Beau,  he  met  a  friend  and  admirer  named  Souque,'  who  cour^ 
ageously  determined  to  accompany  him  in  his  flight.^   They 

1  Brissot,  Memoires,  ii,  216. 

2  Lettre  de  Barbaroux  aux  Marseillais,  cited  by  A.  DuchMellier,  Histoire  de 
la  Revolution  en  Bretagne,  i,  407.   Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  734,  note. 

'  Examination  of  Souque  before  the  council  general  of  the  Department  of 
the  Allier.  Correspondance,  341-46.  Souque  had  known  Brissot  at  the  Jaco- 
bin Club.  He  escaped  the  guillotine,  but  was  left  in  prison  till  the  9th  Thermi- 
dor.  He  afterward  served  in  various  affairs  under  the  Directory,  and  in  1819 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Corps  Legislatif.  He  was  also  known  as  a  dra- 
matic author  of  some  repute.  See  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  les  Girondins,  ii, 
249,  note. 

*  According  to  the  examination  before  the  council  general  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Allier,  business  interests  were  in  part  responsible  for  Souque's 
determination  to  accompany  Brissot,  as  he  had  been  connected  with  the  army 
in  the  Department  of  the  Eure-et-Loir. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  353 

accordingly  set  off  together  toward  Chartres.  Here  Brissot 
was  destined  to  be  bitterly  disappointed.^  " I  hoped,"  he  wrote 
in  his  memoirs,  "that  my  reputation  and  the  services  which 
I  had  rendered  to  liberty  would  make  me  welcome.  The  first 
man  I  saw  was  a  friend  of  twenty  years'  standing :  he  trembled 
and  was  embarrassed;  he  urged  me  to  flee  immediately,  prom- 
ised to  come  back  to  see  me  again,  but  did  not  appear.  Those 
whom  I  met  afterward,  while  they  showed  more  courage,  gave 
me  the  same  advice.  I  could  certainly  apply  to  myself  that 
passage:  '7n  patriam  venit  et  sui  eum  non  receperunt.'  "  ^ 

Saddened  by  what  seemed  to  him  the  basest  ingratitude, 
he  departed  from  Chartres  in  despondency,  feeling  that  if  his 
own  city  refused  to  receive  him,  there  was  no  refuge  left.  But 
to  wander  about  aimlessly  for  any  length  of  time  was  not  pos- 
sible, and  learning  that  some  of  the  deputies  had  gone  toward 
Orleans,  he  and  Souque  turned  their  steps  in  that  direction.' 
Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  small  wonder  that  the  forests 
through  which  Brissot  passed  seemed  very  alluring,  and  that 
he  longed,  as  in  the  days  of  his  youth,  to  return  to  a  life  of 
nature.  "How  I  regretted,"  he  wrote  in  describing  his  feelings, 
"that  I  could  not  bury  myself  and  hide  forever  from  those  men 
for  whom  I  had  sacrificed  all,  and  who  had  not  hesitated  to 
sacrifice  me.  The  more  wild,  sad,  and  lonely  Nature  appeared, 
the  more  she  pleased  my  soul." 

The  state  of  opinion  in  Orleans  was  not  reassuring,  and  find- 
ing that  "Maratism"  was  in  the  ascendant,  he  and  Souque 
decided  speedily  that  no  safety  was  to  be  found  there.  They 
therefore  continued  their  weary  journey  in  the  direction  of  Gien, 
Nevers,  and  Moulins.  To  their  dismay,  they  found  that  when- 
ever they  passed  through  a  village,  they  had  to  stop,  show  their 
passports,  and  answer  embarrassing  questions.   Souque  seems 

^  The  support  which  Brissot  had  received  from  Chartres  came  largely  from 
the  Jacobin  Club  there,  and  his  expulsion  from  the  Jacobin  Club  at  Paris  would 
naturally  influence  the  local  Jacobin  Club  against  him. 

2  Brissot,  Memoires,  ii,  216. 

'  Examination  of  Souque  before  the  council-general  of  the  Department  of 
the  Allier.   Correspondance,  341-46. 


354  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

to  have  been  more  astute  and  to  have  shown  more  practical 
sense  than  Brissot.  At  all  events,  he  tried  to  arrange  their 
jom-ney  so  that  they  might  reach  Moulins  at  an  early  hour  and 
thus  run  less  risk  of  being  detained.  But  Brissot,  who  was 
overcome  with  fatigue,  insisted  on  stopping  at  a  little  inn  a 
couple  of  leagues  from  Nevers  for  a  good  night's  rest.  This 
upset  Souque's  calculations,  and,  in  consequence,  they  did  not 
arrive  at  Moulins  till  noon.  Instead  of  the  single  sleepy  guard 
whom  Souque  counted  on  hoodwinking,  the  local  authorities 
were  numerous  and  wide  awake.  ^  Disaster  followed  for  both 
Souque  and  Brissot. 

According  to  their  custom,  Souque  went  alone  to  the  police 
with  their  passports.^  This  was  a  wise  precaution,  since  Bris- 
sot, widely  known  as  he  was,  might  be  recognized,  and  his  pass- 
port, which  represented  him  as  a  Swiss  merchant,  Ramus  by 
name,  of  Neuchdtel,  Switzerland,  be  challenged.^  But  fate, 
which  had  treated  him  kindly  so  far,  failed  him  on  this  occa- 
sion. The  suspicion  of  the  police  officer  whose  business  it  was 
to  vise  the  passports  was  aroused,  and  Brissot  was  obliged  to 
present  himself  in  person  before  him.  He  was  then  shown  an 
order  from  the  minister  of  the  interior,  forbidding  the  accept- 
ance of  any  Swiss  certificates,  except  such  as  were  signed  by 
Barthelemy,  ambassador  of  France  in  Switzerland,  Brissot's 
objection,  that  this  order  could  not  possibly  apply  to  him, 
since  his  passport  antedated  it  by  two  months,  was  not  favor- 
ably received,  and  the  officer  continued  to  press  him  with 
questions,  which  he  did  his  best  to  answer  satisfactorily. 
But  the  officer  refused  to  be  satisfied,  and  would  do  nothing 
without  consulting  the  mayor,  who  wished  to  consult  the  dis- 
trict, and  the  district  in  turn  carried  the  matter  to  the  de- 
partment, Brissot  was  accordingly  called  before  the  depart- 
mental council.    He  was  naturally  much  disturbed  lest  he  be 

^  Brissot,  Memoires,  u,  221-22. 
^  See  note  of  M.  Perroud,  Corres-pondance,  ,339. 

'  Ramus  was  the  son  of  a  Swiss  pastor  of  Neuchatel,  Switzerland,  and  was 
in  the  employ  of  Beau  at  whose  house  Brissot  stopped  at  Versailles. 


ARREST,   TRIAL  AND  DEATH  355 

recognized,  but  he  put  a  brave  face  on  it  and  stoutly  maintained 
that  he  was  a  Swiss  merchant.  But  to  support  his  assertion  he 
soon  found  was  not  so  easy.  Where  were  his  papers.'^  he  was 
asked.  He  had  none.  Where  were  his  trunks?  He  was  travel- 
ing without  any.  Who  were  his  correspondents  .f*  Without  hesi- 
tation he  named  several  important  houses,  and  trying  to  brazen 
it  out,  he  offered  to  stay  at  Moulins  till  the  authorities  should 
assure  themselves  of  his  identity.  Whereupon  one  obstinate 
member  of  the  council  proposed  that  in  the  meantime  he  be 
kept  in  prison,  a  proposition  to  which  Brissot  vehemently  ob- 
jected, and  demanded  instead  that  he  be  allowed  to  remain 
under  guard  at  the  inn.  After  much  discussion,  it  was  finally 
decided  that  he  be  placed  provisionally  in  a  state  of  arrest,  and 
that  the  conveyance  in  which  he  and  Souque  had  arrived  be 
examined.  Meanwhile,  the  prospect  of  imprisonment  brought 
Brissot  to  his  senses.  He  realized  how  impossible  it  would 
be  to  conceal  his  identity  for  any  length  of  time,  and,  that  by 
revealing  it,  showing  himself,  as  he  put  it,  "invested  with  the 
sacred  character  of  representative  of  the  nation,"  he  might 
escape  actual  imprisonment.  Accordingly ,  when  he  was  brought 
before  the  comite  de  surete  generate,^  he  confessed  who  he  was.^ 
In  defense  of  his  action,  he  declared  that  had  he  felt  that  the 
decree  against  him  represented  the  real  desire  of  the  legislators, 
his  respect  for  the  law  and  for  the  Convention  would  have  pre- 
vented his  flight,  but  his  conviction  that  the  decree  against  the 
deputies  had  been  passed  under  duress,  and  that  the  Conven- 
tion had  no  force  at  its  command  wherewith  to  prevent  the 
massacre  of  the  victims,  persuaded  him  that  he  was  justified 
in  fleeing  and  in  taking  every  possible  measure  for  his  safety, 
even  to  the  deceit  of  traveling  under  a  false  passport.  In  con- 
clusion, he  asked  that  his  case  be  referred  to  the  Convention.' 
When  the  committee  of  public  safety  thus  reported  the  result 

^  M.  Perroud,  in  a  footnote,  explains  that  this  committee  was  more  properly 
called  the  comite  de  surveillance,  and  that  in  its  proces-verbal  it  calls  itself  the 
comite  de  solid  public.   Memoires  de  Brissot,  n,  222. 

*  Proces-verbal  du  comite  de  salut  public.   Correspondance,  346-49. 

'  See  Correspondance,  346-49. 


356  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

of  their  examination  to  the  council  of  the  department,  the  lat- 
ter declared  that  Brissot  was  under  the  safeguard  of  the  law 
and  the  loyalty  of  the  citizens  of  Moulins,  and  that  he  should 
be  treated  with  the  respect  due  to  a  representative  of  the 
nation.  It  also  decreed  that  Brissot  and  Souque  should  be 
kept  under  guard  by  the  municipality  at  the  inn. 

Souque  was  also  examined.  From  the  stress  laid  on  questions 
as  to  the  motives  which  actuated  Brissot  and  himself  to  go  to 
this  or  that  department,  the  examiners  were  evidently  suspi- 
cious that  Brissot  and  Souque  were  engaged  in  fomenting  a 
conspiracy  against  the  Convention.^  They  were  unsuccessful, 
however,  in  forcing  from  Souque  any  incriminating  admis- 
sions. Neither  had  the  committee  of  public  safety  found  any 
incriminating  papers  among  the  effects  of  Souque  and  Brissot 
and  nothing  worse  than  two  English  pistols. ^ 

The  suspicious  attitude  of  the  administrators  apparently 
represented  popular  opinion,  for  a  mob  gathered  under  the 
windows  of  the  inn  and  hooted  at  Souque  and  Brissot  as  trai- 
tors. This  mob  Souque  had  to  brave,  in  going  to  appear  before 
the  departmental  council,  and  on  his  return  he  found  it  still 
waiting  for  him  with  insults  and  threats  of  the  guillotine.  Ac- 
cording to  Brissot,  it  was  a  critical  and  dangerous  situation. 
With  great  difficulty  Souque  managed  to  get  through  the  mob 
and  up  to  the  room  where  Brissot  was  waiting  for  him.  Pale 
and  speechless,  he  threw  himself  upon  Brissot's  neck,  crying 
that  their  last  moment  had  come.  Whereupon  the  mayor  de- 
clared that  he  could  not  answer  for  what  might  happen,  and 
that  the  only  way  to  appease  the  mob  was  for  Brissot  and 
Souque  to  be  put  in  prison.  At  which  Brissot  promptly  ap- 
pealed to  the  decree  of  the  Convention  which  placed  the  depu- 
ties under  arrest  in  their  own  homes,  and  declared  that  he 
would  go  to  prison  only  under  force.  The  procureur  of  the 
commune,  who  was  present,  sympathized  with  Brissot  and 

1  Interrogatoire  pretS  pardevant  nous  administrateurs  composant  le  conseil 
general  du  departement  de  VAUier,  juin  10,  1793.   Correspondance,  341-46. 

2  Proch-verbal  du  comiti.   Correspondance,  346-49. 


ARREST,   TRIAL  AND  DEATH  357 

harangued  the  mob  so  successfully  that  they  were  persuaded 
to  disperse.^ 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  it  was  only  Souque  who  was  examined 
directly  by  the  council  of  the  department.  This  body,  after 
having  learned  through  their  committee  of  public  safety  who 
Brissot  really  was,  respected  his  position  as  representative  of  the 
people  and  confined  their  investigation  to  Souque.^  They  took 
heed,  moreover,  to  Brissot's  request  and  decreed  that  the  de- 
partment send  to  the  Convention  all  the  papers  involved  and 
await  its  instructions.  Brissot  also  sent  a  letter  to  the  Conven- 
tion, in  which  he  set  forth  the  reasons  why  he  considered  him- 
self justified  in  his  flight.  He  had  hesitated  at  first,  as  flight 
seemed  to  him  unworthy  of  a  representative  of  the  people;  but 
as  the  Convention  was  no  longer  free,  it  had  ceased  to  repre- 
sent the  people.  The  most  potent  cause  of  his  flight,  however, 
was  fear  of  arrest,  and  here  he  was  justified  on  the  ground  of 
self-preservation.  After  thus  defending  himself,  he  went  on 
to  demand  in  the  name  of  justice  that  he  be  not  condemned 
without  being  heard  in  his  own  defense,  and  above  all  that  his 
companion,  Souque,  be  released.' 

The  Convention  did  not  look  with  favor  upon  Brissot's  ap- 
peal. In  their  estimation,  he  had  added  to  the  crime  of  con- 
spiracy the  guilt  of  using  a  false  passport  and  thus  forfeited  all 
claim  to  consideration,  and  should  be  committed  to  prison  like 

^  Brissot,  Memoires,  ii,  223-24. 

^  Extrait  du  jproces-verhal  de  la  session  extraordinaire  du  conseil  du  departe- 
ment  de  VAllier.   Given  in  the  Correspondance,  350-51. 

^  The  letter  is  quoted  in  full  in  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday  et  des  Girondins,  ii, 
248.  The  Moniteur  gives  it  only  in  part.  Marat  published  it  with  the  following 
comment:  "  Tout  le  monde  sail  que  Brissot,  I'ancien  espion  de  police,  I'dme  dam- 
nee  de  Lafayette,  de  Narbonne,  de  Bailli,  V agent  de  Louis  Capet,  le  complice  de 
Dumouriez,  et  Fame  damnee  de  la  faction  des  hommes  d'etat  qui  ne  cessent  pas 
de  machiner  pour  le  retablissement  de  la  royaute,  enfeignant  de  vouloir  la  Repxih- 
lique,  est  I'un  des  35  meneurs  mis  en  etat  d'arrestafion.  Tout  le  monde  sait  qu'il 
a  pris  la  fuite  il  y  a  cinq  jours,  pour  aller  machiner  en  Suisse,  au  moyen  d'un 
faux  passeport  dont  il  s'etait  pourvu  d'avance.  Tout  le  monde  sait  qu'il  a  ete 
arrete  par  la  municipalite  patriate  de  Moulins;  mats  tout  le  monde  ne  connoit  pas 
la  lettre  qu  'il  vient  d  'ecrire  a  la  Convention,  la  void  mot  pour  mot,  on  y  verra  que 
ce  vile  intrigant  est  aussi  plat  que  perfide."  L'Ami  du  Peuple,  H  juin. 


358  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

any  other  criminal.  One  member  declared  that  there  did  not 
exist  a  dungeon  sufficiently  black  to  shut  up  such  a  conspira- 
tor. The  matter  was  finally  settled  by  a  decree,  passed  on  the 
recommendation  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  that  Bris- 
sot  and  Souque  should  be  brought  to  Paris. ^ 

Meanwhile  Brissot  was  becoming  a  cause  of  civil  dissension 
in  the  Department  of  the  Allier,  and  the  administrators  were 
only  too  glad  to  get  rid  of  him.^  Two  events,  in  particular, 
accelerated  their  zeal.  In  the  first  place,  the  district  of  Gannat 
drew  up  an  address  in  behalf  of  Brissot,  which  it  sent  to  the 
department.  This  was  read  to  the  departmental  council  in  its 
session  of  June  17,  and  provoked  a  sharp  reprimand.  The  de- 
partment, it  was  stated,  thoroughly  disapproved  of  the  address 
because  it  opposed  the  decree  of  the  Convention,  placing  the 
twenty-two  members  under  arrest;  because  it  was  opposed 
to  the  arrest  of  Brissot;  and  finally  because  the  example  set 
by  the  district  of  Gannat  was  likely  to  disturb  the  peace  and 
unity  of  the  department.  ^  The  department  decreed,  more- 
over, that  the  action  of  Gannat  be  communicated  to  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety. 

That  Brissot  should  be  held  responsible  for  stirring  up  the 
district  of  Gannat  was  but  natural.  If  his  own  account  is  to  be 
accepted,  he  was  an  "accessory  after  the  fact,"  and  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  action  of  the  district  till  after  it  had  been  taken.* 
But  he  certainly  was  indiscreet.  The  address,  it  seems,  was 
brought  to  him  by  an  officer  of  the  department,  one  Des- 
combes.^    Brissot,  evidently  pleased  by  this  sympathy,  was 

^  Aulard,  Recueil  des  actes  du  comity  de  salut  public,  tv,  578. 

2  The  temper  of  Brissot's  captors  is  well  shown  by  the  account  of  his  arrest 
and  examination  given  in  a  personal  letter  by  one  of  the  members  of  the  tri- 
bunal, Royer  by  name.  While  agreeing  with  the  oflBcial  account  as  to  fact, 
it  is  distinctly  hostile  to  Brissot.   A.  N.,  ad.  XVIII^  vol.  241. 

*  Proch-verhal  des  seances  de  I'assemblee  administrative  du  dSpartement  d'Al- 
her.  Seance  du  17  juin,  1793.  See  also  for  the  whole  subject  Louis  Biernawski, 
Un  deparfement  sous  la  Revolution  frangaise.   L' Allier  de  1789  d  Van  II. 

*  This  defense  of  Brissot's  is  given  in  his  Reponse  an  rapport  de  Saint-Just, 
Memoires,  ii,  263-65. 

^  Brissot  gives  the  name  as  Lescombes,  but  it  appeared  in  the  proc^s-verbal 
as  Descombes. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  -AND  DEATH  359 

imprudent  enough  to  write  an  answer,  in  which  he  defended  his 
position  and  thanked  the  district  of  Gannat  for  its  action.^  He 
was  soon  made  aware  of  his  indiscretion  by  the  mayor  of  Mou- 
Hns,  who  hastened  to  warn  him  that  the  action  of  the  district 
of  Gannat  had  stirred  up  great  indignation.  Whereupon  Bris- 
sot  offered  to  make  what  reparation  he  could  by  writing  on  the 
spot  to  Descombes,  begging  him  to  suppress  the  letter.  This 
last  letter,  instead  of  being  sent,  as  Brissot  trusted  it  would  be, 
was  promptly  turned  over  by  the  mayor  to  the  committee  of 
general  security.  The  result  was  an  examination  of  Brissot 's 
papers. 2  Popular  opinion  against  Brissot  now  expressed  itself 
by  a  demand  by  the  Societe  populaire,  addressed  to  the  coun- 
cil of  the  department,  that  in  view  of  the  disturbances  to  which 
his  presence  was  giving  rise,  he  be  sent  away  as  soon  as  possible. 
The  department  accordingly  decreed  that  rapid  measures  be 
taken  to  "direct  Brissot  toward  Paris."' 

As  for  the  district  of  Gannat,  it  soon  had  reason  to  regret 
its  enthusiasm  in  Brissot's  behalf,  for  the  Convention  called 
to  its  bar  the  officers  of  Gannat  and  ordered  that  the  seat  of 
the  district  administration  be  transferred  from  Gannat  to 
Saint-Pourgain.  This  decision  naturally  provoked  consterna- 
tion at  Gannat  and  frantic  appeals  for  pardon.  The  25th  of 
June  the  citizens  of  Gannat  sent  an  address  to  the  Convention, 
protesting  that  they  were  guilty  of  no  counter-revolutionary 
design,  that  their  village  had  been  calumniated,  and  that  they 
had  no  intention  of  marching  against  Moulins.*  The  26th  of 
June,  the  procureur- syndic  of  the  district  of  Gannat  appeared 
before  the  council  of  the  department  to  explain  the  action  of 
the  district.^  The  27th  the  council  general  of  Gannat  appointed 
a  special  committee  to  make  further  explanations.^  The  3d  of 
July  the  administrators  appeared  before  the  bar  of  the  Con- 
vention, and  by  making  humble  apology  and  retracting  their 

*  See  Correspondance,  358-60.  ^  Reponse,  Memoires,  ii,  263-65. 

'  Proces-verbal  des  seances  de  VassemhUe  administrative  du  department  de 
I'AUier,  June  IS,  1793. 

*  District  du  Gannat,  Correspondance,  June  25,  1793. 

5  Proces-verbal,  referred  to  above.  ^  Gannat,  Conseil-geniral,  263-64. 


360  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

action,  were  able  to  secure  their  personal  reinstatement  and 
the  reestablishment  of  Gannat  as  the  head  of  the  district.' 

The  very  next  day  after  the  popular  society  of  Moulins, 
stirred  by  the  Gannat  incident,  had  urged  Brissot's  departure, 
another  evidence  of  sympathy  in  his  behalf  came  to  light,  and 
made  more  desirable  still  his  speedy  departure  from  Moulins. 
This  was  the  arrival  in  Moulins  of  a  young  Spaniard,  named 
Marchena,  who  declared  that  he  had  made  the  journey  ex- 
pressly to  see  Brissot.  Being  brought  before  the  officers  of  the 
municipality,  he  gave  a  straightforward  account  of  himself  — 
an  account  which  agrees  very  closely  with  Brissot's  subsequent 
explanation  of  their  relations. ^  It  seems  that  Marchena,  having 
been  banished  from  Spain  on  account  of  his  revolutionary 
views,  had  been  obliged  to  flee  from  his  country.  He  had  set- 
tled at  Bayonne,  where  he  had  connected  himself  with  the 
Jacobin  society.  A  speech  which  he  had  delivered  in  August, 
1792,  against  royalty  and  on  the  organization  of  the  Republic, 
brought  him  to  Brissot's  attention.  The  latter  saw  in  him  a 
person  likely  to  be  useful  in  preparing  the  revolution  in  Spain, 
and  accordingly  invited  him  to  come  to  Paris  and  presented 
him  to  Lebrun.  The  decline  of  the  Girondin  party  apparently 
put  an  end  to  Marchena's  activities  in  this  matter,  but  not  to 
his  devotion  to  Brissot,  and  he  now  voluntarily  came  to  Mou- 
lins prepared  to  share  Brissot's  imprisonment  and  misfortunes. 
In  addition  to  his  sympathy  with  Brissot,  the  municipal  au- 
thorities found  him  guilty  of  the  more  tangible  charge  of  trav- 
eling under  a  false  passport.  The  council  general  accordingly 
decreed  his  imprisonment  till  he  could  be  brought  before  the 
committee  of  public  safety  of  the  department. 

This  arrest,  following  so  closely  on  the  heels  of  the  Gannat 

1  Biemawski,  ii,  363-64.  The  incident  was  made  much  of  as  showing  that 
Brissot  was  a  dangerous  conspirator.  Billaud-Varennes,  in  a  speech  delivered 
the  15th  of  July,  said:  "Pendant  un  residence  de  quelques  jours  a  Moidins,  Bris- 
sot a  presque  riussi  d  y  realiser  la  guerre  civile.^'  Discours  sur  les  deputSs  de  la 
Convention,  mis  en  etat  d" arrestation,  par  son  decret  du  deuxieme  juin  prononcS 
dans  la  seance  du  quinzieme  juillei,  1793,  p.  24. 

2  Brissot,  Memoires,  ii,  226,  265-66;  also  Extrait  dcs  minvtes  deposces  an 
secretariat  de  la  municipalite  de  Moulins,  printed  in  Correspondance,  361-68. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  361 

affair,  now  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  The  department,  with- 
out waiting  for  directions  from  Paris,  passed  a  decree  which 
provided  that  Brissot  should  start  the  next  day,  the  20th;  that 
he  should  be  accompanied  by  a  civil  commissioner  appointed 
for  the  purpose,  and  by  two  national  guards;  that  he  should 
make  the  journey  in  a  four-seated  carriage;  that  another  civil 
commissioner  should  go  ahead  in  the  conveyance  in  which  Bris- 
sot had  arrived  in  Moulins;  that  Souque  and  Marchena  should 
be  sent  to  Paris  accompanied  by  two  national  gendarmes,  but 
that  they  should  be  separated  from  Brissot  by  a  distance  of 
several  hours;  that  the  execution  of  these  measures  should  be 
entrusted  to  the  municipality  of  Moulins,  and  that  for  this 
purpose  the  necessary  funds  should  be  advanced  by  the  de- 
partment.^ These  decrees  were,  however,  unnecessary,  as  the 
municipality,  having  in  the  mean  time  received  notice  from 
Paris  of  the  decree  of  the  Convention  ordering  the  transfer  of 
Brissot,  had  proceeded  to  immediate  action. 

There  were  many  details  to  be  arranged :  what  route  should 
be  followed;  how  many  horses  would  be  needed  to  start  with; 
where,  and  how,  fresh  horses  could  be  obtained  along  the  route; 
where  conveyances  could  be  found;  who  should  be  chosen  to 
accompany  the  prisoners;  what  the  expense  would  be,  etc. 
An  interesting  complication  arose  concerning  a  conveyance.  It 
was  reported  that  a  certain  citizen,  Faucompre  by  name,  whose 
father  was  an  emigre,  possessed  a  carriage  suitable  for  the  pur- 
pose. The  question  of  ownership  thus  became  important,  for, 
if  the  carriage  were  the  property  of  an  emigre,  it  could  be  taken 
for  the  service  of  the  Republic,  otherwise  not.  The  munici- 
pality in  perplexity  appealed  to  the  department,  which  de- 
cided that,  as  the  father  and  son  lived  together,  the  carriage 
might  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  father,  and  so  sub- 
ject to  confiscation.  The  department  also,  on  request  of  the 
commune,  advanced  three  thousand  francs  for  necessary  ex- 
penses.^ 

^  Assemblee  admimstrative  du  departement  de  VAllier,  June  19,  1793. 

*  Registre  des  delibirations  prises  par  Ic  conseil  general  de  la  commune  de 


362  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

All  these  measures  seem  to  have  been  taken  with  great 
haste,  for,  on  the  evening  of  the  19th,  the  very  day  on  which 
the  decree  of  the  Convention  reached  Moulins,  the  authori- 
ties started  their  prisoners.  It  was  a  cavalcade  of  some  impor- 
tance, one  rider  going  in  advance  to  provide  for  the  change  of 
horses,  then  three  carriages,  one  each  for  Brissot,  Souque,  and 
Marchena,  accompanied  by  civil  commissioners  and  gen- 
darmes.^ The  moment  of  departure  was  a  trying  one  for  Bris- 
sot. It  had  been  announced  for  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
and  by  three  o'clock  the  square  was  full,  while  the  windows 
and  roofs  of  adjacent  buildings  were  covered  with  spectators. 
Although  no  actual  violence  seems  to  have  been  offered,  there 
were  shouts,  "To  the  guillotine."  But  Brissot  appears  to  have 
been  prepared  for  insults  and  to  have  received  them  with  at 
least  outward  calm.  As  far  as  Montargis,  he  met  with  evi- 
dences of  curiosity  rather  than  of  antagonism,  but  there  he  had 
a  most  unpleasant  experience.  Hostile  crowds  gathered  round 
and  drew  hideous  and  suggestive  caricatures  on  the  sides  of  his 
carriage.  "Nothing,"  he  declared,  "could  be  more  like  a  dance 
of  cannibals  around  their  victim  attached  to  the  fatal  stake 
than  the  sight  of  those  monsters  announcing  to  me  with  a 
jubilant  air  the  approaching  guillotine."^  His  fears  were  nat- 
urally aroused  as  to  the  reception  he  might  meet  at  Paris,  but 
his  arrival  there  seems  to  have  occasioned  no  outbreak. 

He  reached  Paris  on  the  22nd  of  June,  and  on  the  decree  of 
the  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  he  was  taken  temporarily  to 
the  mairie,  where  it  was  decreed  that  he  should  remain  pend- 
ing the  action  of  the  Convention. ^  He  seems  to  have  confi- 
dently expected  that  he  would  soon  be  transferred  to  his  own 
home,''  but  the  next  day,  in  accordance  with  a  decree  of 
the  Convention  placing  him  under  arrest,  he  was  taken  to 

Moulins,  19-20  juin,  1793.    Also  Prochs-verbal  des  stances  de  VassemhUe  ad- 
ministrative du  dSpartement  de  VAllier,  20  juin,  1793. 

1  Registre  des  deliberations  jyrises  par  le  conseil  gSnSral  de  la  commune  de 
Moulins,  juin  19,  1793. 

2  Memoires,  ii,  228. 

»  Recueil  des  actes  du  comite  de  salut  public,  v,  44.  ■*  Memoires,  ii,  228. 


ARREST,   TRIAL  AND  DEATH  363 

the  Abbaye/  where  he  remained  till  the  6th  of  October,  when 
he  was  transferred  to  the  Conciergerie.^ 

Meanwhile  a  deputation  of  his  escort  presented  themselves 
to  the  Convention.  They  seemed  to  feel  that  Moulins  de- 
served some  reward  for  making  so  notable  a  capture  and 
asked  the  Convention  for  an  advance  of  150,000  francs  for  the 
provisioning  of  their  city,  but  beyond  the  reference  of  their 
request  to  a  committee  they  received  little  encouragement.^ 

The  Convention  now  turned  its  attention  to  the  expelled 
Girondins,  and  on  July  8,  Saint-Just,  in  the  name  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,  presented  a  report  upon  the  deputies 
who,  by  the  decree  of  June  2,  had  been  placed  under  arrest. 
While  assailing  the  faction  as  a  whole,  the  arraignment  was 
directed  against  Brissot  especially.  "There  exists,"  he  de- 
clared, "a  conspiracy  to  establish  tyranny  and  the  old  consti- 
tution. The  conspirators  did  their  best  to  preserve  the  mon- 
archy in  the  summer  of  1792,  even  to  the  extent  of  proposing 
the  Duke  of  York  or  the  Duke  of  Orleans  as  rulers  if  they  could 
not  keep  Louis  XVI  himself  upon  the  throne;  and  when  they 
failed,  they  calumniated  Paris  and  have  ever  since  been  try- 
ing to  divide  the  Republic.  In  this  conspiracy,  Brissot  has 
played  the  part  of  a  Monk  —  and  has  intrigued  both  in  internal 
and  in  foreign  affairs,  first  to  save  the  king,  and  then  to  reestab- 
lish royalty  and  to  divide  the  Republic.  Witness  his  actions 
and  his  words:  he  showed  great  attachment  to  the  monarchy, 
he  even  declared,  if  there  exist  men  who  intend  to  establish  a 
republic  upon  the  ruins  of  the  constitution  of  1789,  the  knife 
of  the  law  ought  to  fall  upon  them  like  the  partisans  of  Co- 
blenz.  When,  in  spite  of  such  threats,  the  king  was  suspended, 
Brissot  demanded  that  he  be  well  treated.  He  attacked  those 
who  defended  the  10th  of  August  and  brought  it  about;  he  made 
a  fine  protest  of  indignation  against  the  massacres  of  Sep- 
tember, but  at  the  time  he  was  glad  enough  to  profit  by  the 

1  Proces-verbal,  June  23,  1793. 
*  Brissot,  Memmres,  ii,  272;  note,  by  M.  Perroud. 

'  Registre  des  delibSrations  prises  par  le  conseil  general  de  la  commune  de 
Moulins,  1  juillet,  1793  and  Moniteur,  June  25,  1793. 


364  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

shedding  of  blood,  and  inquired  eagerly  whether  one  of  his  per- 
sonal enemies  had  been  assassinated;  he  used  his  influence 
against  peace  in  October,  1792,  and,  besides,  threatened  the 
Convention  with  the  arms  of  England  and  Spain;  and  to  gain 
influence  in  America,  had  his  brother-in-law  appointed  vice- 
consul-general  at  Philadelphia.  At  the  time  of  the  king's  trial 
he  endeavored  to  save  him  from  execution,  and  then,  when  it 
was  too  late  to  save  him  personally,  he  conspired  with  Dumou- 
riez  in  favor  of  royalty;  and  finally  he  tried  to  raise  civil  war 
against  Paris  and  to  get  the  aid  of  Dillon  in  proclaiming  the 
son  of  Louis  XVI  king  and  his  mother  regent.  The  conspiracy 
was  directed  from  Saint-Cloud,  where  Madame  Brissot  re- 
ceived the  conspirators  in  the  former  royal  palace,  where  they 
planned  the  destruction  of  the  Republic."  ^ 

In  his  prison  cell,  Brissot  prepared  an  answer  to  these  charges 
—  an  answer  which  was  both  able  and  eloquent.^  He  now 
learned  for  the  first  time,  he  declared,  the  nature  of  the  charges 
made  against  him  and  his  friends;  but  although  they  now  knew 
of  what  they  were  accused,  Saint-Just  had  failed  to  produce 
the  written  evidence  which  he  promised.  Moreover,  many 
of  the  accusations  concerned  matters  of  opinion,  and  it  was 
contrary  to  law  to  judge  a  deputy  for  his  opinions.  The  general 
charges  of  royalty  and  federalism,  he  asserted,  were  manifestly 
absurd,  as  they  mutually  contradicted  each  other,  and,  as  for 
the  latter,  the  departmental  movement  burst  forth  after  and 
not  before  the  2d  of  June,  and,  as  shown  by  the  oath  taken  by 
the  rebels  against  the  Convention,  was  not  for  the  purpose 
of  destroying  but  of  preserving  the  unity  and  indivisibility  of 
the  Republic.  Having  thus  dealt  with  the  charges  against  the 
Girondins  as  a  whole,  Brissot  then  turned  to  the  points  in  which 

1  Moniteur,  July  18,  19,  1793. 

*  M.  Perroud  sees  no  reason  to  doubt  the  genuineness  of  this  defense.  One 
internal  evidence  of  great  weight  in  its  favor,  he  points  out,  is  the  curious  mis- 
takes in  proper  names  in  the  Montrol  edition  —  mistakes  which  can  most 
reasonably  be  accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that  the  matter  was  printed 
from  a  manuscript  of  Brissot's  which  the  editor  had  difficulty  in  deciphering. 
See  MSmoires,  ii,  232;  note  by  M.  Perroud. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  365 

he  himself  was  especially  assailed,  and  took  up  his  own  personal 
defense.  He  had  been  compared  to  Monk,  but  his  character 
and  that  of  Monk,  he  declared,  far  from  offering  points  of  re- 
semblance, presented  only  antitheses.  "Monk  was  a  courtier, 
and  I  have  always  hated  courts  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart; 
Monk  commanded  armies,  and  I  am  a  stranger  to  the  art  of 
war;  Monk  was  powerful,  and  I  am  powerless;  Monk  was  am- 
bitious, and  I  have  no  ambition,  not  even  for  glory;  Monk 
changed  his  party,  and  I  have  invariably  kept  to  that  of  the 
Republic;  Monk  was  made  a  duke  as  the  price  of  his  treason, 
and  I  should  always  have  the  fear  of  the  scaffold  before  me  if 
I  should  be  base  and  stupid  enough  to  commit  treason;  for,  in 
the  eyes  of  kings,  I  have  committed  a  crime  that  they  never 
pardon:  I  have  condemned  a  king  to  death;  I  have  dared  to 
say  that  a  king  deserves  death  as  I  dared  to  advance  the  idea 
that  it  would  be  impolitic  to  make  him  suffer  it."  His  enemies, 
Brissot  continued,  asserted  that  he  had  defended  monarchy; 
let  them  cite  a  single  passage  from  his  works  before  as  well  as 
after  1789,  where  he  had  upheld  it.  As  for  the  special  phrase 
cited,  in  which  he  called  dowTi  the  knife  upon  any  one  daring 
to  propose  a  republic,  it  was  taken  from  its  context,  and  was, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  included  in  that  speech  of  July  26  which 
was  approved  by  the  Assembly,  as  was  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  they  ordered  it  printed.  "In  short,"  Brissot  declared 
with  indignation,  "it  is  with  a  phrase  uttered  in  1792  under  the 
old  constitution  that  they  try  to  prove  that  under  the  Republic 
in  1793,  I  wanted  to  reestablish  royalty."  ^ 

The  reason  why  the  Girondins  were  in  favor  of  suspension 
instead  of  dethronement,  Brissot  went  on  to  say,  was  not  be- 
cause they  were  seeking  to  preserve  royalty,  but  because  sus- 
pension was  the  way  to  avoid  a  regency  and  to  bring  about  a 
total  change  in  the  form  as  well  as  in  the  personnel  of  govern- 
ment. It  was  alleged  against  him,  as  though  it  were  a  crime, 
that  he  asked  after  the  10th  of  August  that  the  king  be  treated 

^  This  does  not  seem  quite  accurate,  as  it  was  to  show  that  Brissot  was 
attached  to  the  monarchy  in  the  summer  of  1792  that  these  words  were  cited. 


366  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

with  humanity;  he  did  not  remember  making  such  a  request, 
but  granted  that  he  did,  would  cruelty  be  a  republican  virtue? 
In  any  case,  he  showed  his  opposition  to  royalty  by  his  proposi- 
tion for  the  dismissal  of  the  Swiss  troops  and  by  the  address 
to  foreign  powers,  which  was  his  own  work.  He  could  not 
be  accused  of  calumniating  Paris,  for  he  never  attacked  the 
disorder  and  anarchy  which  there  prevailed  without  carefully 
explaining  that  he  was  not  attacking  Paris  as  a  whole,  but 
only  the  evil  forces  therein.  The  Morande  incident  he  emphati- 
cally denied.  On  the  contrary  he  tried,  he  asserted,  to  induce 
Danton  to  put  a  stop  to  the  massacres  and  used  all  the  means 
in  his  power  to  have  those  responsible  punished.  He  never 
heard  of  the  propositions  for  peace  referred  to;  in  fact,  no  dip- 
lomatic committee  existed  at  the  date  in  question.  The  war 
was  due,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  action  of  the  emigres  and  the 
electors;  the  appeal  to  the  people  was  not  for  the  purpose  of 
saving  the  king,  but  to  avoid  civil  dissension  and  to  take 
from  foreign  powers  all  pretext  for  interference  by  making 
them  see  that  the  judgment  of  the  king  was  the  wish  of  the 
nation. 

He  himself  was  in  no  way  responsible  for  the  war  with  Eng- 
land. On  the  contrary,  he  did  all  he  could  to  prevent  it.  The 
real  cause  was  England's  own  conduct.  That  he  had  any  under- 
standing with  England  or  America,  he  emphatically  denied, 
and  to  adduce  the  appointment  of  his  brother-in-law  to  a  post 
in  Philadelphia  as  a  proof  of  the  latter  connection,  was  a  sheer 
absurdity.  The  charges  of  complicity  with  Dumouriez  and 
Dillon  were  likewise  without  foundation.  In  the  case  of  Dillon, 
the  date  of  the  alleged  plot  precluded  any  possibility  of  guilt 
on  his  part,  as  he  was  already  under  arrest  at  Moulins.  He  had 
fled,  moreover,  not  to  conspire,  but  because  he  believed  that 
the  Convention  was  not  free. 

But  absurd  as  these  charges  were,  the  height  of  absurdity 
was  reached,  Brissot  declared,  in  the  accusation  that  the  con- 
spiracy was  directed  in  the  salon  of  Madame  Brissot  in  a  once 
royal  palace.  All  that  the  tale  of  the  royal  palace  amounted  to 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  367 

was  that  Madame  Brissot  had  for  a  time  rented  two  rooms  in 
the  apartment  of  the  concierge  of  the  palace.  As  for  the  poht- 
ical  salon,  Madame  Brissot  lived  in  absolute  seclusion,  de- 
voted to  the  education  of  her  children  and  caring  for  her  house- 
hold, without  even  the  aid  of  a  servant.  To  penetrate  into  his 
one  refuge  from  political  life  and  to  drag  his  private  and  per- 
sonal relations  into  publicity  was  nothing  short  of  an  outrage. 
If  they  insisted  on  a  scrutiny  of  his  private  life,  they  would  find 
the  most  democratic  simplicity,  if  not  actual  poverty  —  in 
itself  an  answer  to  the  calumny  that  he  profited  by  the  Revo- 
lution to  enrich  his  family.^ 

The  writing  of  this  eloquent  defense  occupied  much  of  his 
time  during  the  month  of  July.  Counting  the  forty-five  days 
of  his  imprisonment,  referred  to  above,  from  the  10th  of  June, 
he  must  have  finished  it  about  the  8tli  of  August.^  It  was  writ- 
ten at  the  Abbaye,  where  he  had  been  imprisoned  since  the  23d 
of  June.^  Madame  Roland  was  one  of  the  prisoners  there  at 
the  time  of  Brissot's  arrival.  The  next  day  she  was  removed,^ 
she  herself  thought,  on  account  of  the  fear  of  the  authorities 
of  communication  between  them,  but  according  to  Sophie 
Grandchamp,  the  friend  of  Madame  Roland,  it  was  because 
Madame  Roland  occupied  the  one  cell  which  was  considered 
a  proper  place  of  confinement  for  Brissot.^  In  spite  of  the  re- 
moval, they  managed  to  establish  communication  through 
Mentelle,®  Bosc,^  and  Champagneux,^  and  it  appears  to  be  in 
part,  at  least,  due  to  Madame  Roland  that  Brissot  was  insti- 
gated to  write  his  memoirs.^  This  production  he  turned  over 
a  few  weeks  before  his  condemnation  to  his  friend  Mentelle,^° 
who,  knowing  how  keenly  Madame  Roland  would  be  interested, 
offered  to  let  her  see  the  manuscript.   She,  however,  realized 

^  Reponse  au  rapport  de  Saint-Just,  Memoires,  ii,  230-71. 
^  MSmoires  de  Brissot,  ii,  271;  note  by  M.  Perroud. 

*  See  p.  363.  *  Memoires  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  351,  and  note. 
'  Ihid.,  II,  485.                 «  See  p.  17.  ^  See  p.  121. 

*  The  former  assistant  of  Roland  in  the  ministry  of  the  interior. 

*  Memoires  de  Brissot,  i,  ix.   See  also  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  734. 
'"  Edition  de  Montrol,  preface,  xix,  et  seq. 


368  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  danger  of  loss  or  confiscation,  and  wrote  back  to  Mentelle 
that  unless  a  copy  existed,  she  was  unwilling  to  run  the  risk.^ 
During  this  time,  too,  he  also  wrote  what  he  called  a  "legacy 
to  his  children." 

While  engaged  in  writing  these  memoirs  and  last  messages 
to  his  family,  he  was  also  making  appeals  to  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety  and  to  the  Convention.  The  day  after  his 
incarceration  at  the  Abbaye,  he  wrote  to  the  Committee,  en- 
closing a  letter  which  he  asked  to  have  read  to  the  Convention, 
and  begging  at  the  same  time  to  be  allowed  to  see  his  wife. 
Such  permission  was  granted,  he  wrote,  when  he  was  impris- 
oned in  the  Bastille  under  the  old  regime,  and  the  regime  of  lib- 
erty surely  would  not  be  more  severe.  On  the  24th2  and  again 
on  the  27th  of  June,  he  wrote  asking  to  be  given  a  hearing. 
Marat  was  not  condemned  unheard,  he  argued;  would  they  do 
less  for  him?  He  also  begged  again  for  permission  to  see  his 
wife,  his  mother-in-law,  and  his  sister-in-law.  And  on  June 
30  he  once  more  begged  the  Convention  for  permission  to  see 
his  sister-in-law  on  necessary  business.^  These  demands  were 
apparently  answered  only  in  part,  for,  although  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety,  on  July  3,  granted  him  permission  to  com- 
municate with  his  mother-in-law  and  his  sister-in-law,  nothing 
was  said  about  his  wife.'*  Thus  separated  from  those  who  were 
dearest  to  him  and  tortured  with  crushing  anxiety  as  to  their 
future  and  his,  Brissot  dragged  out  the  weary  weeks  of  his 
imprisonment. 

According  to  his  enemies,  he  was  still  engaged  in  fomenting 
conspiracy  against  the  Convention  —  a  charge  which  he  ve- 
hemently and  indignantly  denied.^    "The  people  ask  you  for 

1  "  Je  ne  veux  point  voir  les  colliers  de  B.  que  lorsque  vous  en  auriez  un  double, 
il  y  a  toujours  du  danger  dans  les  transports,  et  il  ne  faut  pas  risquer  une  perte 
irreparable."    Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  II,  527. 

2  See  Bib.  nat.,  fr.  nouv.  acq.  307. 
'  Correspondance,  369-72. 

*  Receuil  des  actes  du  comiiS  de  salut  public,  v,  153.  The  9th  of  August, 
Madame  Brissot  herself  was  put  under  surveillance.  Notice  sur  la  vie  de  Brissot, 
in  Correspondance,  Ixvi. 

6  This  seems  to  be  apropos  of  a  report,  made  by  Barere  to  the  Convention 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  369 

bread,"  he  wrote  to  Barere  the  7th  of  September,  "you  have 
promised  them  my  blood.  Thus  you  order  my  death  even 
before  I  am  brought  to  trial.  .  .  .  Ah!  if  my  blood  could  bring 
abundance  and  put  an  end  to  all  divisions,  I  would  shed  it 
myself  immediately.  In  order  to  excuse  that  sanguinary  phrase, 
you  imagine  that  I  am  conspiring  in  my  prison,  you  imagine 
that  I  have  said,  'Before  my  head  falls,  heads  vnllfall  in  the  Con- 
vention / '  .  .  .  Yes,  I  conspire  with  my  triple  locks  and  my 
triple  bars!  I  conspire  alone  or  with  the  philosophers  of  an- 
tiquity who  teach  me  to  bear  the  wrongs  which  I  suffer  for  the 
cause  of  liberty,  that  cause  of  which  I  shall  always  be  the 
apostle."  ^ 

Meanwhile  the  Convention  was  preparing  to  bring  Brissot 
and  the  other  accused  Girondins  to  trial.  After  several  at- 
tempts had  been  made  to  hasten  the  procedure,^  the  general 
indictment  against  them  was  finally  presented,  on  October  3, 
by  Amar.  This,  the  decisive  act  which  brought  the  Girondins 
before  the  revolutionary  tribunal,  consisted  of  forty-five  dis- 
tinct counts.  It  repeated  many  of  the  charges  of  Saint- Just's 
report,  but  was  longer,  more  detailed,  and  more  sweeping.  It 
presented  Brissot  as  the  head  and  front  of  the  Girondins  and 
the  most  culpable  member  of  that  faction.  There  existed  a 
conspiracy,  Amar  declared,  against  the  liberty  and  safety  of 
the  French  people,  and  Brissot  was  one  of  its  leaders.  This 
Brissot,  who  was  an  agent  of  the  police  and  a  base  intriguer 

the  5th  of  September,  on  the  danger  of  a  rising  in  Paris.  It  was  followed  by 
a  demand  that  Brissot  and  several  others  be  brought  at  once  before  the  revo- 
lutionary tribunal.  Monifeur,  September  6, 1793. 

1  The  letter  given  is  in  Vatel,  Charlotte  Cor  day  et  les  Girondins,  ii,  250-51; 
also  in  Correspotidance,  376-78. 

^  The  26th  of  July  the  Convention  decreed  that  the  Committees  of  General 
Security  and  Legislation  be  required  to  present,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible, 
the  act  of  accusation  against  Brissot.  The  19th  of  August  the  public  prose- 
cutor asked  for  the  papers  and  acts  of  accusation  against  Brissot.  Whereupon 
the  Convention  sent  a  request  to  the  Committee  of  General  Security  to  make 
its  report  in  three  days.  August  25,  the  public  prosecutor  complained  that  he 
had  not  yet  received  the  papers,  and  on  October  1  the  Committee  of  Gen- 
eral Security  was  again  asked  to  report  immediately.  See  the  procds-verbal 
of  the  Convention  on  these  different  days. 


370  BRISSOT  DE  WARVlLLE 

under  the  old  regime,  began  his  career  in  the  Revolution  as  a 
member  of  the  Comite  de  Recherches  of  the  Commune  of  Paris, 
in  which  he  acted  as  the  agent  of  Lafayette.  Even  when  La- 
fayette, in  April,  1791,  showed  his  sympathy  for  the  king  and 
made  pretense  of  resigning  the  command  of  the  Parisian  guard, 
Brissot  continued  to  support  him  and  declared  in  the  Patriote 
Franqais  that  the  retirement  of  Lafayette  would  be  a  pubhc 
calamity.  Brissot,  moreover,  was  always  an  enemy  of  popular 
societies  and  showed  himself  at  the  Jacobins  only  at  times  of 
crisis.  The  first  occasion  was  in  the  month  of  April,  1790,  when, 
under  the  pretense  of  philanthropy,  he  inaugurated  a  plan 
which  was  to  end  in  the  ruin  of  the  colonies;  the  second  occa- 
sion was  in  March,  1791,  when,  in  criminal  collusion  with  La- 
fayette, he  prepared  the  way  for  the  day  of  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
in  order  to  give  Lafayette  a  chance  to  assassinate  the  patriots. 
The  third  occasion  was  in  January,  1792,  when  he  came  to 
preach  war  with  the  purpose  of  hindering  the  Revolution  and 
destroying  liberty.^ 

On  his  election  to  the  Legislative  Assembly,  Brissot  allied 
himself  openly  with  the  deputies  of  the  Gironde  and  tried,  to- 
gether with  them,  to  usurp  a  useful  popularity,  by  defending 
the  cause  of  the  people  on  occasions  of  slight  importance,  al- 
though they  abandoned  it  often  enough  in  times  of  crisis.  They 
were  the  agents  of  the  court  in  trying  to  bring  about  war  at  a 
time  when  France  was  in  no  way  prepared  for  it.  With  traitor- 
ous intent  they  supported  Narbonne,  lauding  him  to  the  skies, 
and  getting  him  sent  to  the  army,  contrary  to  all  law,  before 
he  had  rendered  his  accounts  as  minister.  Brissot  and  Con- 
dorcet  came  forward  in  their  newspapers  as  the  defenders  of 
Dietrich,  who  was  convicted  of  complicity  with  Lafayette  and 
of  having  worked  to  deliver  up  Strasbourg.  Brissot  and  the 
mob  tried  to  prevent  the  10th  of  August  and  treated  with 
the  king.  Brissot  gave  the  king  advice  pernicious  to  liberty, 
as  is  proved  by  a  letter  in  his  hand  addressed  to  Louis  XVI,  in 
possession  of  the  Comite  de  Surveillance,  in  which  his  signature 
1  Moniteur,  October  20,  27,  1793. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  371 

is  scratched  out.  Moreover,  he  showed  not  only  in  his  secret 
correspondence,  but  also  in  public  speech,  his  attachment  to 
monarchy,  when  he  declared,  on  June  26,  that  the  knife  of  the 
law  ought  to  fall  on  those  who  desired  a  republic.  At  the  same 
time  he  was  responsible  for  the  newspaper  entitled  the  Repub- 
licain,  published  in  March,  1791  (sic),  and  for  the  petition 
which  led  to  the  butchery  of  the  Champ  de  Mars.  But  in 
July  of  1792,  when  people  wanted  a  republic,  he  tried  to  save 
royalty,  and  after  the  10th  of  August  he  tried  to  mitigate  the 
king's  imprisonment  by  having  him  placed  at  the  Luxem- 
bourg. He  was  one  of  those  who  attacked  the  leaders  who  had 
brought  about  the  10th  of  August;  he  and  other  agents  of 
the  English  faction  had  a  part  in  planning  the  Belgian  cam- 
paign, in  which  Dumouriez  let  the  Prussians  retire.  They 
wanted  to  receive  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  at  Paris;  they 
planned  to  flee  with  the  king  and  the  Legislative  Assembly 
beyond  the  Loire.  Brissot  appealed  to  the  people  to  save  Louis 
XVI;  he  then  proposed  a  declaration  of  war  with  England 
after  having  tried  to  prevent  it;  he  conspired  with  Dumouriez, 
proposed  a  national  guard  around  Paris  as  a  base  of  federalism, 
stirred  up  rebellion  against  Paris;  when  arrested  at  Moulins 
he  was  probably  on  his  way  to  Lyons  to  foment  further  rebel- 
lion; and  finally,  if  he  were  not  in  actual  alliance  with  Pitt,  it 
was  curious  that  he  and  Pitt  were  working  for  precisely  the 
same  things  —  the  overthrow  of  the  Republic,  the  destruction 
of  Paris,  the  ruin  of  the  French  colonies,  and  the  arming  of  all 
Europe  against  France. 

In  his  cell  in  the  Conciergerie,  Brissot  thus  learned  from  this 
report  what  charges  were  to  be  made  against  him  when  he 
should  be  brought  before  the  bar  for  trial.  He  accordingly  be- 
gan at  once  a  Projet  de  defense  devant  le  tribunal  revolutionnaire 
en  reponse  au  rapport  d'Amar.^    It  was  an  able  and  lengthy 

1  Memoir es,  ii,  272-306.  In  the  first  paragraph  he  speaks  of  his  rigorous 
captivity  of  four  months.  M.  Perroud  notes:  " L'arrestatioii  de  Brissot  est  du 
dixieme  juin.  Cest  done  vers  le  dixieme  odobre,  a  la  Conciergerie,  oH  il  avail  etS 
transfers  le  sixi^me,  quHl  dut  commencer  ce  projet  de  defense."  Ibid.,  ii,  272, 
note. 


372  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

defense  which  he  drew  up,^  a  final  and  supreme  effort  to  clear 
himself  from  the  charge  of  treason  and  to  prove  that  he  was  a 
sincere  patriot,  and,  above  all,  a  true  lover  of  liberty. 

"France  and  Europe  have  resounded  for  some  time,"  he 
declared,  "with  the  alleged  conspiracy  of  thirty-two  deputies 
against  the  Republic."  They  accused  him  of  being  at  the  head 
of  it.  But,  he  continued,  he  had  long  waited  with  impatience 
for  them  to  give  definite  details  of  these  crimes.  And,  in  the 
meantime,  calumniators  were  profiting  by  their  silence  to  stir 
up  public  opinion  against  them.  Unless,  then,  they  spoke  out  in 
their  defense,  there  was  danger  that  people  think  them  power- 
less to  defend  themselves.  "I  am  therefore  going  to  refute," 
he  declared,  "  all  the  facts  alleged  against  me  in  the  reports  of 
Saint-Just  and  Amar.  I  shall  prove  that  there  is  not  one  of 
them  which  is  not  absolutely  false.  In  order  to  prop  up  their 
absurd  accusation,  they  have  ransacked  all  my  past  life;  I 
thank  my  adversaries,  for  my  entire  life  has  been  devoted  to 
liberty  and  will  bear  witness  to  my  love  for  it."  Of  this  love, 
all  his  early  works  bore  witness,  he  maintained.  His  Theorie 
des  lois  criminelles,  his  Bibliotheque  philosophique,  denounced 
the  crimes  of  kings  and  ministers;  his  Correspondance  politique 
and  his  Tableau  des  sciences  et  des  arts  en  Angleterre  were  writ- 
ten to  inoculate  France  with  the  principles  of  the  English  and 
American  constitutions;  VHistoire  philosophique  d' Angleterre 
to  show  to  the  French  people  the  course  which  they  ought  to 
pursue  to  break  their  fetters;  his  Lettres  a  Joseph  II  exhorted 
a  tyrannized  people  to  reconquer  their  rights.  In  short,  there 
was  not  a  single  one  of  his  works  which  did  not  have  for  its 
object  "  to  avenge  humanity,  liberty,  and  reason  from  the  out- 
rages of  despotism."  His  journey  to  America  was  undertaken 
in  order  that  he  might  learn  how  to  bring  about  a  like  revolu- 
tion in  France,  and  to  find  a  place  of  abode  for  his  family  in  a 
new  country,  in  case  it  should  be  necessary  to  abandon  hope  of 

^  It  was  nearly  twice  as  long  as  his  answer  to  Saint-Just.  He  naturally  re- 
peated some  of  his  arguments,  as  this  defense  was  not  only  an  answer  to  Amar, 
but  to  all  the  denunciations  made  against  himself. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  373 

such  a  revolution  at  home;  and  on  his  return  to  France,  he  em- 
barked on  the  dangerous  career  of  a  journalist,  in  order  that  he 
might  daily  combat  the  prejudices,  the  abuses  of  despotism 
and  aristocracy.^ 

"I,  accused  of  royalism  in  1793!"  he  continued;  "I,  who 
offered  myself  on  eleven  successive  ballots  for  the  place  of 
deputy  to  the  Legislative  Assembly,  to  be  overwhelmed  with 
thousands  of  libels  only  because  of  my  known  republicanism. 

"I,  who  wishing  to  combat  every  kind  of  aristocracy,  that 
of  color  as  well  as  that  of  nobility,  published  so  many  works 
in  order  to  raise  to  the  level  of  the  white  colonists  that  valuable 
class  of  mulattoes  who  form  the  bulwark  of  our  colonies  and 
who  will  save  them  from  the  hand  of  our  enemies. 

"I,  who  in  1789  dared  to  be  the  first  and  only  one  to  main- 
tain that  the  Constituent  Assembly  had  not  the  right  to  make 
a  constitution  without  the  approval  of  the  people  —  a  truth 
which  was  recognized  only  after  the  establishment  of  the  Re- 
public in  1792. 

"I,  who  at  the  time  of  the  flight  of  the  king  and  when  the 
most  ardent  patriots  trembled  at  the  mere  name  of  a  republic, 
tried  on  several  occasions,  and  especially  in  my  speech  of  July 
10,  1791,  to  reconcile  them  to  the  republican  regime  and  to 
induce  them  at  least  to  establish  an  executive  council  named 
by  the  people  and  independent  of  the  king. 

"I,  who  during  the  Legislative  Assembly,  worked,  talked, 
published  with  the  one  purpose  of  diminishing  the  royal  pre- 
rogative, of  preventing  its  fatal  effects,  of  unmasking  the  trea- 
son of  the  ministers,  and,  since  the  king  would  not  maintain 
liberty,  of  bringing  about  the  Republic  by  a  second  revolution.'* 

After  thus  defending  his  general  principles,  Brissot  took  up, 
one  by  one,  the  specific  charges  against  him.  He  denied  that 
he  had  ever  been  a  spy  or  had  had  any  nefarious  connections 
with  England.  He  was  not  married  to  an  English  woman,  as 
was  alleged,  and  his  stay  in  England  in  1783-84  for  the  pur- 

^  Note  that  he  puts  forward  his  democratic  principles  as  an  evidence  of 
republicanism. 


374  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

pose  of  studying  English  institutions  was  a  flimsy  basis  for  the 
charge  of  conspiracy  in  1793.  As  for  his  alleged  complicity 
with  Lafayette,  what  connection,  he  asked,  had  his  relations 
with  him  in  1790  with  a  conspiracy  in  1793?  He  had  been  de- 
ceived in  Lafayette,  he  admitted,  but  surely  Lafayette's  part 
in  the  American  Revolution  and  Washington's  admiration 
for  him  were  good  reasons  for  believing  that  Lafayette  was  a 
sincere  friend  of  liberty  and  republicanism.  He  himself,  how- 
ever, had  never  sought  his  favor,  ^  his  election  to  the  first  muni- 
cipality of  Paris  was  not  due  to  Lafayette's  protection;  more- 
over, as  a  member  of  that  municipality,  he  had  worked  against 
the  royalists,  had  tried  to  prevent  action  against  the  instigators 
of  the  riots  of  October  5  and  6,  and  had  opposed  the  plans  of 
Lafayette,  and  after  the  17th  of  July  he  had  openly  denounced 
him.  He  was  not  responsible  for  the  petition  which  led  to  the 
massacre,  and  as  soon  as  Lafayette  showed  his  true  colors  by 
firing  on  the  public,  he  (Brissot)  attacked  him  in  his  news- 
paper. That  in  spite  of  these  attacks,  he  went  about  openly 
in  the  streets  of  Paris,  while  the  other  enemies  of  Lafayette 
were  hiding,  was  not  an  evidence,  as  was  alleged,  that  he  had 
a  secret  understanding  with  Lafayette,  but  was,  on  the  con- 
trary, a  proof  of  his  own  bravery  and  fearlessness.  Moreover, 
since  that  time,  he  had  never  ceased  to  denounce  him. 

Another  charge  laid  at  his  door  was  responsibility  for  the  war 
with  Austria.  But  war  was  a  matter  of  honor,  and  was  inevi- 
table, and  if  he  did  wage  war,  he  had  the  support  of  the  entire 
nation.  Moreover,  war  was  declared  on  April  20,  and  his  last 
speech  on  the  subject  was  delivered  the  9th  of  January;  it  was 
plain  that  other  influences  must  have  been  at  work.  He  was 
also  charged  with  being  allied  with  the  court.  But  he  had  had 
no  personal  relations  with  the  royal  family;  he  had  always  been 
their  enemy;  and  while  they  had  tried  to  put  off  the  war,  he 
had  been  for  it. 

He  was  likewise  charged  with  responsibility  for  the  disasters 

1  But  see  page  162  for  his  efforts  to  get  money  out  of  Lafayette  for  the  cause 
of  popular  societies. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  375 

in  the  colonies.  Such  an  accusation  must  concern  itself,  he  de- 
clared, only  with  his  opinions,  for  he  had  never  had  any  part 
in  the  administration  of  the  colonies,  and  had  never  had  any 
correspondence  with  any  one  there.  As  for  his  opinions,  they 
were  both  patriotic  and  republican.  They  were  not  only  not  the 
cause  of  the  disasters  of  Santo  Domingo,  but  those  disasters 
could  be  attributed  only  to  violation  of  the  principles  which  he 
defended;  in  fact,  his  opinions  could  not  be  criticized  without 
condemning  with  him  all  those  who  had  sustained  the  same 
principles  and  the  three  national  assemblies  which  had  sanc- 
tioned them.  The  real  cause  of  the  civil  war  was  the  perfidy 
of  the  agents  of  the  government,  the  aristocracy  of  the  whites, 
the  vacillation  and  inconsistency  of  the  Constituent  Assembly, 
while  the  revolt  of  the  blacks  was  due  to  the  counter-revolu- 
tionists in  alliance  with  the  counter-revolutionists  of  Spain  and 
England.  His  approval  of  the  commissioners,  Santhonax  and 
Polverel,  now  under  decrees  of  accusation,  was  charged  against 
him.  To  be  consistent,  like  accusation  would  have  to  be 
brought  against  all  the  Jacobins,  and,  in  any  case,  waiving  the 
question  of  their  guilt,  he  had  never  had  any  correspondence 
with  them.^  That  he  had  been  paid  a  sou  for  his  opinions  by 
Pitt  or  by  any  one  else,  he  indignantly  denied. 

Another  accusation  laid  upon  him  was  that  he  was  respon- 
sible for  the  war  with  England.  On  the  contrary,  he  had,  he 
declared,  done  all  that  he  could  to  prevent  war  with  England. 
Witness  his  opposition  in  July,  1792,  to  the  proposition  for  a 
Batavian  legion  which  would  have  alarmed  England  and  Hol- 
land; his  efforts  as  member  of  the  Diplomatic  Committee  to  en- 
gage Delessart  to  enter  into  negotiations  with  the  court  of  St. 
James,  his  furtherance  of  the  embassy  of  Chauvelin  and  Talley- 
rand. The  real  responsibility  for  the  war  with  England  rested 
on  the  authors  of  the  decrees  of  November  19  and  December  15 
and  of  the  annexation  of  Belgium  and  other  conquered  coun- 
tries, also  on  the  enemies  of  the  appeal  to  the  people.    And  for 

^  M.  Perroud  points  out  that  there  exists  a  letter  written  by  Santhonax  to 
Brissot.  See  Correspondance,  331-34. 


S76  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

these  measures  he  was  in  no  way,  he  declared,  responsible; 
he  had  no  part  in  opening  the  Scheldt,  which  was  ordered 
by  the  executive  council  without  informing  the  Diplomatic 
Committee;  he  opposed  the  decree  of  November  19,  protector 
of  insurrections,  since  he  strongly  urged  that  it  be  sent  back 
to  the  Diplomatic  Committee  to  be  drawn  up  in  such  a  fashion 
as  not  to  alarm  neutral  powers;  he  repeatedly  warned  the  par- 
tisans of  annexation,  and  especially  of  the  annexation  of  Bel- 
gium, that  they  would  draw  upon  France  the  arms  of  England; 
in  his  diflFerent  expressions  of  opinion  on  the  trial  of  the  king, 
he  gave  constant  warning  that  if  he  were  condemned  without 
having  the  judgment  ratified  by  the  people,  France  would  be  ex- 
posed to  a  rupture  with  England.  For  all  these  reasons  he  dis- 
claimed all  responsibility.  Then,  taking  up  his  speech  of  Janu- 
ary 12,  —  and  here  he  was  on  firmer  ground  than  in  some  of  his 
preceding  assertions,^  —  he  reiterated  his  arguments  on  that 
occasion  against  war;  and  finally  coming  to  the  speech  after  the 
execution  of  the  king,  in  which  he  proposed  the  formal  declara- 
tion of  war,  he  pointed  out  that  there  he  was  speaking  not  per- 
sonally, but  in  the  name  of  the  Committee,  and  that  in  any  case 
the  action  of  the  English  government  had  by  that  time  made 
war  inevitable. 

This  eloquent  plea  stops  abruptly,  and  it  is  evident  that  he  was 
called  to  trial  before  he  had  had  time  to  finish  it.  The  prospect 
of  the  trial  gave  further  opportunity  to  Brissot's  opponents, 
and  while  he  was  thus  defending  himself,  renewed  accusations 
continued  to  pour  in  against  him.  On  the  29th  of  September 
a  deputation  of  the  French  colonies  denounced  the  writings  and 
speeches  of  Brissot  as  the  cause  of  the  disasters  of  the  colonies 
and  asked  that  prompt  measures  be  taken  to  bring  him  to  jus- 
tice.2  Ruelle,  charge  d  'affaires  in  the  Netherlands,  accused  him 
of  having  removed  from  the  papers  of  the  Diplomatic  Com- 
mittee the  complaint  which  he  (Ruelle)  had  made  against  the 

^  There  was  some  truth  in  Brissot's  assertion,  in  so  far  as  he  stood  for  less 
precipitation,  but  his  claims  here  are  not  in  accord  with  his  exuberant  rejoic- 
ing at  some  of  these  measures. 

*  Proces-verbal  de  la  Convention,  September  29,  1793. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  377 

minister  Lebrun.^  A  letter  addressed  to  the  public  accuser, 
signed  Guisat,  suggested  that  Charles  Theveneau  Morande, 
being  an  enemy  of  Brissot  and  at  the  same  time  an  courant 
with  the  intrigues  of  the  British  government,  might  be  able  to 
give  valuable  testimony.  Another  citizen  wrote  that  a  former 
general  of  the  Army  of  the  North  had  certain  information 
to  give  against  Brissot  in  regard  to  his  correspondence  with 
Dumouriez  and  his  mtrigues  in  Holland.^  Unsigned  communi- 
cations entitled  "A  ajouter  a  T affaire  de  Brissot'"  and  ''Notice 
sur  Brissot,"  ^  professed  to  give  proof  of  his  alleged  conspiracy 
with  England  to  ruin  the  colonies.  All  these  are  further  evi- 
dence of  the  animosity  against  him.^ 

On  the  15th  of  October  he  was  brought  before  the  revolu- 
tionary tribunal  for  a  preliminary  examination.  The  ques- 
tions put  to  him  involved  the  accusations  already  made  either 
in  the  formal  decrees  or  in  the  recent  personal  denunciations, 
and  his  answers  were  reiterations  of  his  innocence  and  an  em- 
phatic denial  of  all  the  charges  from  first  to  last.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  examination  he  was  asked  to  name  a  lawyer  for 
his  defense  and  chose  Chaveau  Delagarde.^ 

This  preliminary  exammation  was  followed  by  the  trial  which 
began  on  October  24.  As  in  Amar's  accusation,  so  in  the  trial, 
Brissot  occupied  the  chief  place,  and,  as  the  most  promi- 
nent of  the  accused,  had  a  special  chair.^  Fourteen  witnesses 
were  called,  the  testimony  of  ten  of  whom  concerned  Brissot.^ 

1  A.  N-.W  292,  dossier  20k,  3e  partie,  piice  73,  74.  See  also  Proces-verbd  de 
la  Convention,  July  30,  1793. 

2  ^.  A^.,  W  292,  dossier  20 k,  3^  partie,  pieces  6  et  10. 
8  A.  N.,  F^,  44.43,  no.  18. 

*  A.  N.,  AA54,  1509,  no.  46.    Appendix  C. 

^  Interrogatoire  de  Jacques  Pierre  Brissot,  Archives  nationales,  W  292,  dossier 
20i,  5«  partie.  Printed  in  the  Correspondance,  378-85.  "Chaveau  Delagarde 
dut  au  debut  de  la  Revolution  avoir  des  liaisons  avec  Brissot  (voir  deux  lettres  de 
lui  au  Patriate  Franqais  des  15  fev.  1790  et  25  sept.  1791) ."  Lettres  de  Madame 
Roland,  n,  532,  note. 

*  Aulard,  Histoire  politique,  404. 

^  The  records  of  the  trial  are  preserved  at  the  National  Archives  at  Paris, 
W  292,  dossier  20k,  Affaire  des  Girondins.  The  account  given  there  is,  however, 
very  brief.  See  also  the  Moniteur  of  October  27,  1793,  Supplement;  the  Bulle- 
tin du  tribunal  rivolutionnaire  and  the  Revolutions  de  Paris. 


378  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  ten  were  Pache,i  Chaumette,^  Destournelles,^  Hebert,^ 
Chabot,^  Montaut,^  Fabre  d'Eglantine,'^  Bourdon,^  Desfaix,^ 
and  Duhem^o  — all  of  the  party  of  the  Mountain.  Their 
charges,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Brissot's  defense,  on  the  other, 
are  for  the  most  part  reiterations  of  the  accusations  and  an- 
swers already  made.  Indeed,  practically  every  charge  which 
had  been  brought  forward  was  repeated,  but  the  so-called  tes- 
timony in  support  of  these  charges  consisted  more  of  mere 
assertions  than  of  definite  proof,  and  was  often  either  vague 
or  trivial.   In  addition  to  what  had  previously  been  adduced, 

1  Jean  Nicolas  Pache  (born  1746,  died  1823)  was  made  minister  of  war 
under  Girondin  influence  in  1792,  but  went  over  to  the  side  of  the  Moimtain 
and  was  put  out  of  the  ministry.  He  became  mayor  of  Paris  and  was  one  of 
the  instigators  of  the  insurrection  of  May  31. 

2  Pierre  Gaspard  Chaumette  (bom  1763,  died  1794)  was  closely  connected 
with  the  Commune  of  Paris,  was  the  author  of  some  of  the  most  revolutionary 
measures  and  was  the  friend  and  supporter  of  Hebert,  with  whom  he  was  exe- 
cuted. 

3  Louis  Deschamps  Destournelles  (bom  1746,  died  1794)  was  elected  minis- 
ter of  public  contributions  by  the  Convention  in  1793  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Commime  of  Paris. 

«  Jacques  Rene  Hebert  (bom  1755,  died  1794)  was  a  famous  demagogue, 
the  editor  of  the  Pere  Dvchesne,  and  a  member  of  the  insurrectionary  Commune 
of  Paris  of  August  10.   He  was  guillotined  in  1794. 

6  Frangois  Chabot  (born  1759,  died  1794)  was  a  deputy  to  the  Legislative 
and  to  the  Convention,  and  was  one  of  the  most  advanced  revolutionists.  He 
was  condemned  to  death  and  executed  with  Danton  and  Desmoulins  in  the 
spring  of  1794. 

6  Louis  de  Maribonde  Montaut  (bom  1754,  died  1842)  was  a  deputy  to  the 
Legislative  and  to  the  Convention  and  was  a  most  bitter  enemy  of  royalty. 
He  defended  the  massacres  of  September  and  stirred  up  prosecutions  against 
the  royalists  and  contributed  to  the  fall  of  the  Girondins. 

^  Philippe  Frangois  Nazaire  Fabre  d'Eglantine  (bom  1755,  died  1794)  was  a 
deputy  from  Paris  to  the  Convention  and  a  friend  and  ally  of  Desmoulins  and 
Danton.  He  had  a  certain  reputation  as  a  poet  and  man  of  letters.  He  was 
condemned  to  death  with  the  Dantonists. 

8  Leonard  Bourdon  (bora  1758,  died  1815)  was  a  member  of  the  Convention 
and  one  of  the  most  advanced  of  the  party  of  the  Mountain. 

9  Frangois  Desfaix  (bora  1755,  died  1794)  was  a  famous  orator  at  the  Ja- 
cobins, took  the  initiative  in  a  number  of  prosecutions,  and  was  executed 
with  the  Hebertists. 

1°  Pierre  Joseph  Duhem  (bora  1760,  died  1807)  was  a  deputy  to  the  Legis- 
lative and  to  the  Convention.  He  was  a  most  implacable  enemy  of  printers  and 
journalists  and  was  one  of  the  instigators  of  the  insurrection  of  May  31. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  S79 

the  testimony  and  the  defense  may  be  summarized  as  fol- 
lows: As  a  member  of  the  Comite  des  Recherches  of  the  Com- 
mmie,  Brissot  had  tried  to  impede  the  revolution,  and,  to  this 
end,  had  protected  Bailly  and  Lafayette;  he  had  tried  to  form 
a  secret  club  in  order  to  neutralize  the  influence  of  the  Jaco- 
bins; he  was  in  part  responsible  for  the  disasters  of  the  colonies, 
as  was  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  had  given  Santhonax  a 
secret  mission;  he  had  praised  and  upheld  Narbonne,  and  when 
Delessart,  seeing  through  the  plans  of  Narbonne,  helped  to 
bring  about  his  dismissal,  Brissot  attacked  Delessart;  in  his 
attack  on  the  Austrian  committee,  he  was  both  vacillating  and 
equivocal;  he  had  great  influence  over  the  Girondin  ministry 
and  named  the  agents  of  the  diplomatic  service,  as  was  evident 
from  Robert's  complaint  against  Brissot  for  failing  to  name  him 
to  the  post  at  Constantinople;  under  the  Legislative  Assembly, 
he  allied  himself  with  Marat  and  they  together  mtroduced 
measures  against  the  king,  and  then  withdrew  them  the  next 
day,  in  order  to  sell  themselves  more  dearly.  He  did  not  want 
monarchy  overthrown,  and  therefore  he  was  pleased  with  the 
action  of  June  21 ;  and  when  told  by  Chabot  that  it  had  put 
off  liberty  by  three  centuries,  retorted  that  it  would  produce 
what  they  had  expected,  namely,  the  return  of  the  ministry. 
On  the  8th  of  August,  at  an  assembly  in  the  rue  d ' Argenteuil, 
Brissot  had  rushed  in  and  announced  with  breathless  dismay 
what  he  called  most  incendiary  proposals  at  the  Jacobins. 
After  the  10th  of  August,  he  had  been  much  concerned  for  the 
safety  of  Capet  and  had  tried  to  have  him  kept  at  the  hotel 
de  justice.  The  Committee  of  Twenty-One,  after  the  10th  of 
August,  had  rejected  the  eighty-four  stars  in  the  new  seal,  sig- 
nifying unity,  which  proved  that  they  had  ideas  of  federalism. 
On  the  11th,  Brissot,  at  the  home  of  Petion,  had  practically 
made  threats  against  the  representatives  of  the  Commune. 
He  had  used  his  influence  to  control  the  elections  to  the  Con- 
vention, and  in  particular  he  had  written  a  letter  to  the  elec- 
toral body  of  Beaugency  to  induce  them  to  choose  Louvet. 
At  the  epoch  of  the  massacres,  he  had  calumniated  Paris  in 


380  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  interest  of  Pitt,  in  order  to  arouse  English  sentiment 
against  France.  These  massacres  he  had  spoken  of  in  the 
newspaper  of  Gorsas  as  "just  and  terrible,"  and  worse  than 
that,  he  was  at  Petion's  when  the  assassins  came  in,  their  hands 
covered  with  blood,  and  when  Petion  drank  with  them.  He 
had  insulted  Montaut  when,  at  the  king's  trial,  the  latter  had 
voted  for  death  and  accused  Brissot  of  humanity  toward  the 
tyrant;  he  had  proposed  sending  troops  against  Spain  when 
war  had  not  yet  broken  out  with  that  nation,  his  real  purpose 
being  to  use  them  for  a  sectional  war.  And,  finally,  he  was 
engaged  in  the  conspiracy  against  Paris;  and  as  evidence  of  his 
interest  and  influence  in  this  conspiracy,  it  was  alleged  that  he 
had  not  told  what  he  knew  about  the  revolt  in  the  Vendee  and 
that  a  letter  of  his  (apparently  the  address  to  his  constituents) 
had  had  much  weight  in  stirring  up  feeling  at  Bordeaux. 

In  answer  to  these  charges,  Brissot  made  the  following  de- 
fense. He  denied  that  as  a  member  of  the  Comite  des  Recherches 
he  had  tried  to  hinder  the  Revolution,  or  that  he  had  protected 
Bailly  and  Lafayette,  and  in  support  of  his  contention,  offered 
to  produce  a  certificate  of  approval  from  the  municipal  govern- 
ment. The  secret  and  suspicious  club  to  which  Chabot  re- 
ferred was  a  perfectly  innocent  meeting,  whose  nucleus  was 
the  deputation  from  the  Gironde  drawn  toward  Brissot  by 
their  common  interest  in  the  colonies.  As  for  Santhonax,  al- 
though he  had  spoken  well  of  him,  he  had  never  given  him  any 
secret  mission  to  the  colonies.  In  his  attack  on  the  Austrian 
committee,  he  had  perhaps  gone  too  far  and  had  made  charges 
which  he  was  unable  to  substantiate,  but  that  was  because 
Chabot  himself  had  withheld  certain  papers  which  were 
needed  to  complete  the  proof.  As  to  his  influence  on  the  min- 
istry, Robert  was  mistaken  in  thinking  that  he  (Brissot)  had 
any  great  weight;  he  did  interest  himself  in  behalf  of  Genet, 
but  when  he  gave  advice  it  was  because  it  was  asked  for.  He 
was  not  a  monarchist;  on  the  contrary,  he  did  all  he  could  to 
discredit  the  supporters  of  monarchy,  Montmorin  and  Deles- 
sart;  he  was  opposed  to  dethronement  only  so  long  as  public 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  381 

opinion  was  not  ripe  for  it;  the  specific  instance  of  the  meeting 
in  the  rue  d'Argenteuil  he  did  not  remember;  his  interest  in 
the  place  of  abode  for  the  king  after  the  10th  of  August  was 
only  that  he  might  be  near  the  Assembly,  and  he  did  not 
threaten  the  representatives  of  the  Commune.  He  did,  he  ad- 
mitted, write  a  letter  to  the  president  of  the  electoral  club 
recommending  Louvet,  but  he  did  not  intend  it  to  be  read  to 
the  Assembly.  The  reference  to  a  comment  in  the  journal  of 
Gorsas  on  the  days  of  September  he  did  not  remember,  and 
while  he  did  not  deny  being  at  Petion's,  he  did  deny  that  any 
one  came  in  while  he  was  there  with  his  hands  covered  with 
blood.  He  did  not  remember  having  insulted  Montaut,  but 
was  quite  sure  that  he  (Brissot)  had  never  voted  against  a  de- 
cree in  favor  of  humanity.  The  troops  which  he  was  charged 
with  wishing  to  use  against  Paris  were  really  intended  for  use 
either  against  Spain  directly  or  for  a  naval  attack  on  Mexico. 
He  had  not  withheld  information  on  the  Vendee;  even  if  he 
had  information,  it  was  the  business  of  the  ministry  to  an- 
nounce it.  His  address  of  May  26  he  did  indeed  sell  openly 
at  the  door  of  the  Convention,  but  he  had  not  sent  it  to  Bor- 
deaux. That  he  was  a  monarchist,  a  federalist,  or  a  traitor  to 
the  Revolution  or  to  his  country,  in  the  pay  of  Pitt  or  of  any 
one  else,  he  vehemently  and  indignantly  denied. 

In  considering  the  value  of  his  defense  and  the  charges  to 
which  it  was  a  reply,  it  must  be  remembered  in  the  first  place 
that  the  records  of  the  trial  are  untrustworthy.  The  meager 
proces-verbal  preserved  at  the  Archives  does  not  give  the  testi- 
mony, and  the  details  furnished  by  the  Moniteur  and  the  Bulle- 
tin du  tribunal  revolutionnaire  were  presented  by  the  enemies  of 
the  Girondins  and  in  the  most  hostile  spirit.  For  example, 
in  the  accoimt  in  the  Moniteur  and  the  Bulletin,  the  evidence 
of  the  witnesses  is  given  in  full,  while  the  replies  of  the  accused 
are  frequently  summarized.  But  even  taking  the  records  at 
their  face  value,  many  of  the  charges  were  manifestly  absurd 
or,  as  was  stated  above,  based  on  unworthy  evidence.  Further, 
the  witnesses  were  not  only  prejudiced  and  interested  persons. 


S82  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

but  avowed  and  special  enemies,  and  several  of  them  had  had 
a  part  in  the  expulsion  of  the  Girondins  —  witnesses  whose 
testimony  in  any  court  which  made  the  slightest  pretense  of 
justice  would  be  heavily  discounted.  Moreover,  no  effort  was 
made  to  secure  an  impartial  jury;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  made 
up  by  the  committees  of  the  Assembly,  and  was  composed  of 
the  most  violent  members  of  the  Mountain.  Consequently, 
Brissot  and  the  other  Girondins  were  virtually  condemned 
before  they  were  tried. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Brissot  had  an  opportunity  to  make 
use  of  the  defense  he  had  prepared.  According  to  the  notes  of 
Chaveau  Delagarde,  he  was  condemned  unheard,  without  a 
chance  to  make  a  final  defense  either  personally  or  through 
his  advocate.^  According  to  Miss  Helena  Williams,  who,  how- 
ever, is  by  no  means  reliable,  he  defended  himself  with  such 
eloquence  that  not  only  his  colleagues,  but  even  the  chairmen 
of  the  hostile  committees  were  almost  overcome  by  it.^  But 
taking  the  account  in  its  worst  possible  light,  the  only  rea- 
sonable or  important  charges  from  which  Brissot  did  not 
clear  himself  are  his  opposition  to  the  10th  of  August  and 
his  passive  attitude  toward  the  massacres  of  September.  But 
granting  that  he  did  not  want  the  insurrection  and  that  he 
made  no  objection  to  the  massacres,  that  does  not  prove  that 
he  was  an  anti-revolutionist. 

^  "Jefus  charge  de  defendre  dans  cette  affaire  notamment  Vergniaud  et  Bris- 
sot, et  par  une  singularite  qui  n'appartient  qu'a  elle  seule  et  que  personne  pewt- 
etre  n  'a  pas  encore  jusqu  'a  prSsent  observSe,  ces  infortunSs  ont  ete  condamnSs  sans 
avoir  ete  defendus  ni  par  eux-memes  ni  par  leurs  defenseurs."  Quoted  in  Vatel, 
Vergniaud,  ii,  426. 

2  She  may  refer  to  his  reply  to  each  witness  in  turn,  while  Delagarde  seems 
to  refer  to  the  absence  of  a  final  summing  up.  '"Brissot,  comme  on  sait,  se  de- 
fendit  avec  tant  d' eloquence  devant  le  tribunal  revolutionnaire,  que  je  fiis  frappSe 
de  Veffet  surprenant  que  son  discours  produisit  sur  son  collegue  Lasouree,  comme 
lui  accuse,  et  qui  venait  passer  les  soirees  dans  la  chambre  de  la  prison  du  Luxem- 
bourg, oH  nous  etions  alars  tous  enfermSs.  II  m'assura  que  rauditoire,  composS 
cependant  de  Jacobins,  fut  emu  jusqu  'aux  larmes,  et  que  le  chef  du  jury  rSvolu- 
tionnaire,  Antonelle,  etait  agile  de  convulsions  nerveuses,  qui  le  secouaient  sur 
son  siege.  J  'en  avais  presque  pitie,  me  dit  Lasouree,  il  vaut  bien  mieux  mourir." 
Williams,  Souvenirs  de  la  Revolution  Frangaise,  23. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  383 

The  jurors,  however,  thought  differently.  The  trial  had 
commenced  October  24.  By  October  29  the  Convention  be- 
came impatient.  It  had  already  decreed  that  there  should  be 
no  general  defense;^  it  now  passed  a  decree  to  the  effect  that 
when  the  jurors  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal  felt  that  they 
were  "sufficiently  informed,"  they  might  ask  to  have  the  trial 
closed.^  This  suggestive  measure  seems  to  have  had  the  desired 
effect,  for  on  the  next  day,  October  30,  the  jurors  declared 
themselves  sufficiently  informed,  retired  to  deliberate,  and  the 
same  day  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty.^  It  was  a  solemn  scene 
when  the  jurors  came  in  with  their  verdict.  If  Villate^  is  to  be 
believed,  Camille  Desmoulins,  who  was  present,  was  almost 
overcome.  According  to  Villate  he  was  seated  quite  near  the 
jurors'  bench,  and  when  the  jury  filed  in,  he  rushed  forward  to 
speak  to  the  foreman,  M.  Antonelle.  Something  in  Antonelle's 
face  stopped  him  and  he  exclaimed:  "My  God!  I  am  sorry  for 
you!  This  is  a  horrible  day!"  And  when  he  heard  the  declara- 
tion of  the  jury,  he  lost  all  control  of  himself,  crying  aloud:  "My 
God,  my  God,  it  is  I  who  kill  them,  it  is  my  Brissot  devoile.'* 
As  the  accused  filed  in  to  hear  the  verdict,  every  one  turned 
toward  them.  There  was  absolute  silence.  When  the  prosecut- 
ing attorney  reached  the  fatal  words,  "punishment  of  death," 
Desmoulins  all  but  fainted,  and,  although  he  wanted  to  get 
away  from  the  terrible  scene,  was  powerless  to  move.  Brissot 
also  was  nearly  overcome,  Villate  continued;  "his  arms  dropped 
limply  at  his  side,  and  his  head  fell  forward  on  his  breast. 
Gensonne,  pale  and  trembling,  asked  to  be  allowed  to  speak  on 
the  application  of  the  law.  Boileau,  in  astonishment,  threw 
up  his  hat,  crying,  '  I  am  innocent ' ;  and  turning  passionately 
toward  the  people,  invoked  their  aid.  The  accused  sprang  to 
their  feet,  'We  are  innocent;  people,  you  are  deceived,'  they 
cry.  The  people  remain  motionless.  The  gendarmes  force  the 

^  Proces-verbal  de  la  Conrention,  September  26,  1793. 
2  Moniteur,  October  30,  1793. 
»  Ibid.,  October  27,  1793,  Supplement. 

*  Villate  (or  Vilate;  bom  1768,  died  1795)  was  a  juror  of  the  revolution- 
ary tribunal.  He  is  not  altogether  reliable. 


384  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

people  to  sit  down.  Valaze  draws  from  his  breast  a  dagger 
which  he  thrusts  into  his  heart;  he  falls  over  backward  and  ex- 
pires. Sillery  lets  fall  his  two  crutches,  his  face  full  of  joy,  and, 
rubbing  his  hands,  cries  out,  'It  is  the  happiest  day  of  my  life! ' 
The  late  hour,  the  lighted  torches,  the  judges,  and  the  public, 
worn  out  with  the  long  session,  —  for  it  is  midnight,  —  all  give 
to  that  scene  a  sombre,  imposing,  terrible  character. "  ^ 

The  statement  that  the  condemned  Girondins,  in  the  forlorn 
hope  of  bringing  about  a  rescue,  threw  assignats  to  the  crowd 
in  the  courtroom,  rests  on  good  authority,  but  the  incident  is 
almost  incredible.  The  proces-verbal  says  nothing  of  such  an 
incident,  nor  does  Villate,  just  quoted.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  given  both  in  the  Bulletin  and  in  the  Moniteur? 

Of  that  last  night  there  remain  few  authentic  details.  The 
famous  last  banquet  does  not  rest  on  contemporary  evidence  and 
has  been  shown  to  be  a  matter  of  legend  rather  than  of  fact.' 
Riouffe  says  that  they  kept  up  their  courage  well  and  spent  the 
night  in  singing.^  They  were  allowed  confessors.  Brissot,  how- 
ever, did  not  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity,  though,  when 
some  of  his  friends  expressed  surprise,  he  hastened  to  assure 
them  that  he  believed  in  eternal  life  in  another  world.  ^   He 

^  Villate,  Mysteres  de  la  mire  de  Dieu  devoiles,  chap.  xiii. 

^  See  also  Les  Revolutions  de  Paris,  no.  213,  and  an  accompanying  illustra- 
tion. "  Le  Moniteur  et  le  Bulletin  du  tribunal  rholutionnaire  pretendent  que  les 
Girondins,  pour  exciter  les  assistants  a  se  sotileter  en  leur  faveur,  leur  jeterent  des 
assignats,  en  criant:  'A  nous,  mes  amis,'  et  que  Vauditoire,  indignS,  ne  repondit 
que  par  les  oris  de  'Vive  la  Republiquel'  Cette  assertion  est  fausse.  Vilate,  qui 
assistait  aux  debats,  n'en  parle  pas,  et  le  proces-verbal  de  l' audience,  conservS  aux 
Archives  de  VEmpire,  W.  292,  dossier  204,  est  egalement  muet  sur  cet  incident, 
qu'il  eUt  assurement  notS,  s'il  s'Stait  passS."  Campardon,  Le  Tribunal  revolu- 
tionnaire  de  Paris,  i,  158,  note. 

^  See  Granier  de  Cassagnac,  Histoire  des  Girondins,  et  des  massacres  de  Sep- 
tember, 1,  47;  and  Bire,  La  Legende  des  Girondins,  416-20.  It  is,  of  course,  pos- 
sible that  they  had  a  last  meal  together,  but  that  it  assumed  the  character 
which  the  legend  has  imputed  to  it  is  hardly  possible.  Lasource  and  Sillery, 
two  of  the  alleged  participants,  were  not  at  the  Conciergerie  at  all. 

*  Riouffe,  MSmoires  d'un  detenu,  65.  Riouffe  was  a  writer  of  some  reputa- 
tion. At  first  carried  away  by  the  principles  of  the  Revolution,  he  turned 
against  the  Terrorists  and  was  imprisoned. 

'  See  the  account  of  the  Abb6  Lothringer  in  the  RSpublicain  frangais  of  6 
fructidor  an  V  (August  23,  1797) ;  also  Eire,  420,  and  Vatel,  Vergniaud,  ii,  330. 


ARREST,  TRIAL  AND  DEATH  385 

could  not  help  feeling  keen  anguish  at  the  thought  of  parting 
from  his  family  and  anxiety  for  their  future  support,  as  is  evi- 
dent from  the  pathetic  and  yet  brave  letters  which  he  wrote  to 
his  wife,  mother-in-law,  brothers,  and  sisters;^  but  at  the  same 
time  he  was  strengthened  by  the  firm  conviction  that  he  was 
dying  for  his  country,  and  that  some  time  he  would  be  vindi- 
cated. He  had  already  written  to  his  family  that  death  seen 
near  at  hand  and  looked  at  in  a  philosophical  spirit  lost  all  its 
horrors.-  And  he  seems  to  have  kept  up  his  philosophic  spirit 
to  the  last.  On  the  testimony  of  a  fellow  prisoner,  "he  was 
grave  and  thoughtful,  he  had  the  air  of  a  sage  struggling  with 
misfortune,  and  if  he  showed  more  concern  than  the  others,  it 
was  only  for  his  country."^ 

By  the  afternoon  of  the  30th  he  realized  that  the  end  was 
indeed  near,  and  in  anguish  of  spirit  wTote  his  last  farewell  to 
his  wife.  "I  see,  my  dear  Fehcite,"  he  cried,  "that  my  last 
hour  has  come.  Unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken,  they  are  going 
to  give  the  verdict  to-day.  Perhaps  I  shall  have  the  misfortune 
of  not  being  able  to  see  you  again;  yet  I  would  give  everything 
to  be  able  to.  If  this  happiness  is  refused,  bear  the  blow  with 
com-age.  You  owe  it  to  our  children;  watch  over  them;  look 
out  for  them.  Keep  some  of  my  notes  to  show  to  them  some 
day.  They  will  say:  'This  is  the  writing  of  a  father  who  loved 
us,  and  better  than  us  loved  the  public  good,  for  he  sacrificed 
himself  and  has  been  sacrificed  for  it.  .  .  . ' 

"Adieu,  my  loved  ones,  wipe  away  your  tears.  Mine  are 
wetting  this  paper.   But  our  separation  will  not  be  eternal.  "* 

The  next  day  the  condemned  were  taken  in  carts  to  the  place 
of  execution.  As  they  left  the  Conciergerie,  they  joined  in  sing- 
ing the  Marseillaise.^  Even  the  hostile  court  admitted  that 
they  preserved  their  self-control  to  the  last.  The  Executive 
Council,  well  aware  of  the  importance  of  the  occasion  and  of 

1  Correspondance,  388-93. 

2  Memoires,  i,  9.  For  the  position  of  his  family  during  these  terrible  days, 
see  pp.  403-05,  and  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  683. 

^  Riouffe,  60.  ^  Correspondance,  394.  ^  Bulletin,  64. 


386  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  danger  of  disorder,  had  taken  due  precautions.^  Such  meas- 
ures were  indeed  required,  for  in  spite  of  the  bad  weather^  a 
larger  crowd  than  had  gathered  on  such  occasions  for  years 
lined  the  streets  and  filled  the  windows  all  along  the  line  of 
march. ^  Through  this  crowd,  amid  hostile  cries  of  "Vive  la 
RepuUique,"  "A  has  les  traitres"  the  sad  procession  made  its 
way  from  the  Conciergerie  to  the  Place  de  la  Revolution.  Here 
Brissot  and  the  other  condemned  Girondins  went  bravely  to 
their  death.^ 

1  Recueil  des  odes  du  comitS  de  salut  public,  viil,  119-20. 

2  Revolutions  de  Paris,  no.  213,  p.  148. 
'  Bulletin. 

*  They  were  buried  at  the  cemetery  of  the  Madeleine,  as  is  attested  by  the 
undertaker's  bill.  See  Vatel,  Vergniaud,  ii,  337. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

brissot's  family  life 

In  one  of  his  essays,  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  says  that  wher- 
ever there  is  a  philosopher,  there  is  a  suffering  relative  in  the 
backgroiuid.  This  was  certainly  true  of  Brissot,  and  the  suffer- 
ing member  of  his  family  was  his  wife.  Although  she  held  no 
salon  and  played  no  part  on  the  political  stage,  she  was  an  active 
force  behind  the  scenes,  a  presence  indispensable  to  Brissot  and 
the  silent  victim  of  his  political  misfortunes.  A  brief  study  of 
this  personal  aspect  of  Brissot's  life  renders  vivid  the  heavy 
price  in  poverty,  suffering,  and  sorrow  paid  by  the  family  of  a 
revolutionist,  and  at  the  same  time  it  furnishes  a  picture  of  one 
of  the  most  interesting  women  of  the  Revolution. 

It  was  in  1778  at  Boulogne,  where  he  was  engaged  in  work 
for  Swinton,  that  Brissot  first  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
yoimg  woman  who  was  later  to  become  his  wife.  In  spite  of  a 
wide  circle  of  friends  and  the  entree  to  the  homes  of  some  of  the 
best  families  of  the  town,  including  relatives  of  Sainte-Beuve, 
he  was  lonely  and  imhappy.  "My  heart  had  been  longing  for 
some  time  for  a  special  attachment,"  he  wrote  afterward  in 
looking  back  on  this  period  of  his  life.  "  It  seemed  to  me  that 
I  was  wandering  about  in  space,  and  when  I  would  come  back 
at  night  to  my  solitary  abode,  I  was  always  discontented  with 
my  lot.  I  needed  another  self  and  I  did  not  find  it."^  While 
in  this  mood  he  met  the  woman  who  was  to  become  his  "other 
self"  —  Felicite  Dupont.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a  Madame 
Dupont,  the  widow  of  a  merchant.^  He  seems  to  have  been 
strongly  drawn  to  her  from  the  first,  but  as  she  was  already 

1  Memoir es,  i,  166. 

2  Phillips,  an  English  writer  of  the  time  and  a  friend  of  Brissot,  says  that 
the  mother  of  Mademoiselle  Dupont  kept  a  lodging-house  at  Boulogne,  fre- 
quented chiefly  by  English  people.  Biographical  Anecdotes  of  the  Founders  of 
the  French  Republic,  n,  6. 


388  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

engaged,  he  concealed  and  repressed  his  emotions  and  sought 
distraction  in  a  whirl  of  social  life  and  in  passing  attachments 
which  left  him  only  vain  regrets.^ 

This  distracting  and  misatisfactory  life  at  Boulogne  soon 
came  to  an  end.  Swinton,  Brissot's  employer,  became  inter- 
ested in  other  literary  projects  and  found  him  no  longer  neces- 
sary. He  was  therefore  obliged  to  throw  himself  once  more 
into  the  whirlpool  of  Paris.  He  found  life  lonesome,  and  in  his 
solitary  walks  in  the  Luxembourg,  his  thoughts  turned  back  to 
the  pleasant  hours  he  had  passed  with  Swinton's  family  at 
Boulogne,  and  the  idea  occurred  to  him  that  a  marriage  with 
Swinton's  eldest  daughter  would  be  rather  attractive.  He 
therefore  wrote  to  Swnnton,  but  was  promptly  rejected  as  a 
most  undesirable  parti  —  a  rebuff  which  injured  his  pride  rather 
than  his  heart.  He  had  frankly  admitted  that  the  girl  in  ques- 
tion had  her  faults.  Indeed,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  charms 
of  the  daughter  were  much  less  seductive  than  the  possibili- 
ties of  a  business  alliance  with  her  father.^ 

But  he  soon  found  consolation  in  his  trials  and  disappoint- 
ments through  the  geographer  Mentelle.  This  connection, 
among  many  other  things,  he  owed  to  Madame  Dupont.  She 
was  a  friend  of  Mentelle  and  had  commended  Brissot  to  him. 
The  latter  responded  with  promptness  and  cordiality.  He  went 
to  call  on  Brissot  soon  after  Brissot's  arrival  in  Paris,  invited 
him  to  his  house  and  introduced  him  to  his  friends.  A  keen 
memory  of  his  own  early  struggles  made  him  most  sympathetic 
with  the  young  journalist,  and  Brissot  found  in  him  not 
merely  a  profitable  means  of  extending  his  acquaintance  among 
literary  men,  but  a  lifelong  friend.^ 

Best  of  all,  at  the  house  of  Mentelle,  he  found  Felicite  Du- 
pont, who  had  come  up  to  Paris  to  finish  her  education.  The 
freedom  with  which  he  was  received  there  gave  him  abundant 
opportunity  for  pursuing  her  acquaintance,  and  as  she  had 
broken  her  engagement,  there  was  now  no  further  obstacle  to 
his  suit.  To  his  great  joy  she  responded  to  his  affection  and 
»  Memoires,  i,  1G7.  *  Ibid.,  i,  177-78.  »  Ibid.,  i,  185-86. 


FAMILY  LIFE  389 

they  soon  became  engaged.  The  two  years  of  their  engagement 
were  the  happiest  of  his  hfe.  FeUcite  shared  his  intellectual  in- 
terests, which  at  this  time  were  largely  along  the  line  of  scien- 
tific pursuits.  They  read  and  studied  and  went  to  Fourcroy's 
lectures  on  chemistry  together,  and  then  spent  their  evenings 
in  going  over  the  lessons  of  the  day.  Felicite  was  especially  in- 
terested in  medicine  and  devoted  herself  to  such  studies  in  nat- 
ural philosophy  as  would  prepare  her  to  be  a  good  mother  to 
her  children.^  At  the  same  time  she  used  her  influence  to  get 
Brissot  to  study  anatomy.  The  dream  of  his  life,  he  felt,  was 
realized;  he  had  found  at  the  same  time  a  good  wife  and  a  good 
comrade.  Moreover,  she  sympathized  not  only  with  his  intel- 
lectual interests,  but  with  his  weaknesses,  and  when  he  con- 
fessed to  her  an  old  liaison  and  the  existence  of  a  child,  she 
forgave  the  past  and  even  thought  of  receiving  the  child  into 
their  home  and  bringing  it  up  as  their  own.^ 

Although  he  was  hardly  in  a  position  financially  to  marry, 
his  confident  expectations  of  success  in  the  Lycee  de  Londres  led 
him  to  take  the  step;  and  on  September  17,  1782,  he  and  Fe- 
licite were  quietly  married  at  Paris. ^  At  that  time  Felicite  was 
employed  as  a  kind  of  governess  under  the  direction  of  Madame 
Genlis  for  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  Duke  of  Chartres.*  As  it 
seemed  imprudent  for  Brissot  to  take  his  \\afe  over  to  England 
till  he  had  managed  to  lay  at  least  the  foundation  for  his  Lycee, 
it  was  decided  that  he  should  go  alone  and  that  she  should  con- 
tinue her  work.  Moreover,  while  their  financial  resources  were 
so  precarious,  it  would  be  well  for  her  not  to  abandon  her  means 
of  livelihood.  It  w^as  for  this  reason,  apparently,  that  the  mar- 
riage was  kept  secret.^ 

The  parting  was  hard,  but  buoyed  up  by  his  never-failing 
hope  of  success,  Brissot  started  off  for  London,  while  Felicite 
went  back  to  her  work.  Her  position  was  not  altogether  pleas- 
ant.   She  was  subjected  to  certain  conditions  which  did  not 

^  Memoires,  i,  185-86.  *  Correspondance,  35-39. 

'  Archives  du  depariement  de  la  Seine.   See  also  A.  N.  F^^,  570. 
*  Afterward  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  ^  Memoires,  i,  300. 


390  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

seem  suitable,  but  when  she  complained  to  Madame  Genlis  the 
matter  was  speedily  adjusted.  But  in  spite  of  Madame  Genlis^s 
kindness,  or  perhaps  because  of  it,  she  could  not  gather  up 
sufficient  courage  to  tell  her  of  her  marriage.  It  therefore  fell 
to  Brissot  to  communicate  the  news.  He  did  not  hesitate  to 
combine  business  with  personal  matters  and  utilized  the  oppor- 
tunity, while  writing  to  Madame  Genlis  of  his  marriage,  to 
send  her  a  copy  of  one  of  his  works,  and  a  prospectus  of  the 
Lycee  de  Londres,  and  incidentally  to  solicit  for  the  Lycee  her 
influence  with  Vergennes.  Madame  de  Genlis  responded  kindly, 
though  she  was  obviously  displeased  by  the  marriage,  and  could 
not  help  showing  her  displeasure  to  Felicite. 

Meanwhile  Brissot  was  clamoring  for  his  wife  in  London,  and 
as  she  was  no  longer  well  nor  happy  in  her  work,  it  seemed  best 
from  every  point  of  view  for  her  to  give  up  her  position.  Although 
Madame  de  Genlis  was  displeased  at  the  time,  she  showed  her 
good  will  toward  Felicite  and  wrote  to  her  on  several  occasions 
in  a  most  friendly  spirit.  But  with  the  severance  of  their  pro- 
fessional relations,  all  close  personal  connection  came  to  an  end. 
In  spite  of  this  fact,  this  early  relation  was  of  some  lasting  im- 
portance, as  it  was  afterward  made  the  basis  of  the  charge  that 
Brissot  was  intimately  connected  with  the  House  of  Orleans.^ 
0  Thus,  after  nearly  a  year  of  separation  since  their  marriage, 
Felicite  went  to  London  in  July,  1783,  to  join  her  husband  and 
to  begin  her  real  married  life.^  It  lasted  only  ten  years,  but 
those  ten  years  were  destined  to  be  full  of  hardship  and  suffer- 
ing. The  promise  of  a  life  of  comradeship  forecasted  by  the 
period  of  their  engagement  was  not  fulfilled,  though  not  through 
the  fault  of  Felicite,  but  because  of  Brissot's  growing  absorp- 
tion, first  in  his  literary  and  philanthropic  schemes,  and  then  in 
the  Revolution.  As  the  wife  of  a  penniless  man  of  letters  and  a 
political  leader,  she  had  much  to  endure  both  before  and  dur- 
ing the  Revolution,  in  poverty,  privation,  and  loneliness. 

^  MSmoires,  it,  12-14. 

*  See  article  by  M.  Perroud,  "La  FamUle  de  Madame  Brissot,"  in  La  Revolu' 
tion  franQaise  for  September,  1910. 


FAMILY  LIFE  891 

It  seems  that  Brissot  was  not  able  even  to  go  to  meet  her  at 
Dover,  though  whether  this  was  because  he  could  not  afford 
the  expense  or  the  time  does  not  appear.^  He  apparently  took 
her  at  first  to  the  place  where  he  had  been  living  on  Brompton 
Road,  2  but  on  the  establishment  of  his  Lycie,  he  moved  his 
personal  residence  to  the  house  which  he  had  rented  for  the 
society,  26  Newman  Street.  But  they  were  scarcely  installed 
in  their  new  abode,  when  troubles  began  to  come  thick  and 
fast.  Desforges,  who  had  put  up  the  money  for  the  Lycee,  came 
to  stay  with  the  Brissot  family  and  proved  to  be  a  most  un- 
desirable addition.  Violent,  quick-tempered,  vindictive,  and 
avaricious,  were  some  of  the  epithets  applied  to  him  by  Brissot, 
while  he  on  his  side  tried  to  persuade  Brissot  that  Felicite  was 
suspicious,  imperious,  and  entirely  lacking  in  charm,  a  quality 
much  needed  in  attracting  strangers  to  such  an  establishment 
as  they  were  trying  to  found.  Brissot  was  naturally  indignant. 
The  reason  for  such  an  outburst,  he  declared,  was  simply  that 
Desforges  expected  and  demanded  to  be  taken  into  the  very 
bosom  of  the  family  and  was  piqued  to  find  himself  treated 
merely  as  a  business  associate.'  This  was  but  the  beginning  of 
difficulties.  Permission  to  send  his  publication  into  France  was 
temporarily  suspended;  and  he  foolishly  added  to  his  burdens 
by  starting  another  publication,  Le  Tableau  des  Indes.  Neither 
the  Tableau  de  VAngleterre  nor  the  Lycee  prospered,*  he  had 
used  up  all  the  funds  advanced  by  Desforges,  who  refused  to 
give  him  any  more;  he  could  not  therefore  avail  himself  of  a 
favorable  opportunity  of  securing  a  place  of  meeting  for  the 
Lycee,  and  in  order  to  save  what  he  had  already  put  in,  he  de- 
termined to  start  out  for  France  to  secure  more  funds. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  difficulties,  Felicite's  first  child  was 
born,  April  25,  1784,^  and  when  the  baby  was  only  a  few  days 
old  and  Felicite  was  still  very  ill,  Brissot  was  seized  for  debt 

»  See  letter  of  Brissot  to  Bentham,  July  8,  1783.  Bentham  Papers,  in,  Brit- 
ish Museum;  additional  manuscripts,  ff.  324;  printed  in  the  Correspondance,  64, 

2  See  letter  addressed  to  him  at  that  place  by  his  brother.  Correspondance,  51. 

3  Memoires,  i,  345.  *  lUd.,  i,  389-92. 
"  See  Recompense  nationale,  A.  N.,  F**  570. 


392  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

and  hurried  off  to  prison.^  Fearing  the  effect  on  her  if  she  knew 
the  real  state  of  the  case,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  taken  away 
without  letting  her  know  what  had  happened,  leaving  strict 
injunctions  with  his  sister-in-law  to  make  excuses  for  his  ab- 
sence. After  a  short  imprisonment  he  was  able  to  satisfy  his 
creditors  temporarily,  and  to  get  back  to  his  family,  but  the 
growing  embarrassment  of  his  finances  made  him  feel  that  a 
journey  to  France  in  quest  of  funds  was  imperative.  This  sep- 
aration caused  Felicite  keen  suffering.  In  his  desire  to  spare 
her  Brissot  tried  to  conceal  his  most  crushing  anxieties,  and 
only  succeeded  in  hurting  Felicite,  who,  probably  not  realizing 
their  desperate  financial  condition,  felt  that  for  her  husband 
to  go  off  on  business,  leaving  her  unprotected  and  ill,  showed  a 
most  woeful  lack  of  sympathy  and  tenderness.^  According  to 
Brissot's  own  admission,  she  certainly  needed  protection,  for 
Desforges,  who  remained  behind,  took  occasion  to  harass  and 
annoy  her.  Physical  weakness,  combined  with  torturing  mental 
anxieties,  soon  reduced  her  to  such  a  state  that  she  was 
scarcely  able  to  care  for  the  little  Felix.  But  this  was  not  all. 
Brissot  had  not  been  long  in  Paris  when  he  was  arrested  and 
thrown  into  the  Bastille.  Torn  with  anxiety  as  to  what  was 
befalling  his  wife  at  home,  and  fearing  that  the  sudden  news  of 
his  calamity  might  be  fatal  to  her  and  their  little  son,  he  almost 
reached  the  point  of  desperation.^  It  was  in  this  crisis  that  his 
mother-in-law  came  to  the  rescue;  *  and  without  waiting  for  the 
ordinary  boat,  ventured  to  cross  the  Channel  in  a  little  skiff 
with  only  a  single  sailor,  in  order  to  get  to  her  daughter  before 
she  should  receive  the  news  by  post.  In  spite  of  all  the  precau- 
tions taken  by  Madame  Dupont  in  breaking  the  news  to  her 
daughter,  Madame  Brissot  was  for  the  time  being  completely 
crushed  by  it.^  She  rallied  speedily,  however,  and  set  to  work 
in  her  husband's  behalf.  She  came  over  to  Paris,  and  "to  her 
active  measures,"  as  Brissot  says  in  his  memoirs,  "as  much  as 
to  his  own  innocence,"  he  owed  his  release.^ 

1  iUmoires,  i,  392.  "  Ibid.,  i,  395.  «  Ibid.,  u,  5-7. 

«  See  p.  44.  "  M6moires,  ii,  6-7.         6  Ibid.,  ii,  14-23. 


FAMILY  LIFE  393 

In  ordinary  times,  as  well  as  at  epochs  of  crisis,  Madame 
Brissot  was  a  true  helpmate  to  her  husband,  not  only  in  the 
practical  affairs  of  life,  but  also  in  his  literary  undertakings. 
As  is  evident  from  her  studies  during  the  period  of  her  engage- 
ment, she  was  by  no  means  ignorant  or  petty  in  her  interests. 
She  had  a  fair  education,  which  included  some  knowledge  of 
English.  She  even  engaged  in  translation,  and  the  year  before 
her  marriage,  published  a  translation  into  French  of  a  work  by 
Robert  Dodsley,  entitled  Manuel  de  tous  les  ages,  oil  Economic 
de  la  vie  humaine.  The  original  of  this  work  purported  to  be  an 
ancient  Indian  manuscript  found  among  the  papers  of  the  Grand 
Lama,  and  was  somewhat  after  the  style  of  the  Book  of  Prov- 
erbs. The  following  year  she  got  out  a  translation  of  another 
work,  called  Nouveau  precis  de  Vhistoire  d' Angleterre  depuis  les 
commencements  de  cette  monarchic  jusqu'au  1783.  This  was  a 
tiny  volume,  a  kind  of  compendium  of  history  designed  espe- 
cially for  children,  containing  much  geographical  information 
and  arranged  by  reigns.  After  her  marriage  she  assisted  her 
husband  in  the  translation  of  a  history  of  England,  which 
appeared  under  the  title  of  Lettres  philosophiques  et  politiques 
sur  Vhistoire  dc  VAngleterre  depuis  son  origine  jusqu'a  nos  jours, 
traduites  de  V anglais} 

Now,  however,  she  had  no  time  or  strength  for  anything  but 
her  family  and  her  domestic  duties.  Besides  Felix,  two  other 
children  were  born,  Edme  Augustine  Sylvain,  March  13,  1786,^ 
and  Jacques  Jerome  Anacharsis,  March  31,  1791.^  With  three 
children  to  care  for,  and  very  little  money  to  do  it  on,  life  was 
hard  indeed  for  Madame  Brissot.  Her  husband's  enterprises 
absorbed  instead  of  producing  money,  and,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution,  politics  completely  engrossed  his  attention. 

1  A  second  edition  was  published  in  London  in  1790,  in  which  Brissot  appears 
as  the  translator.  In  the  preface  he  does  not  mention  his  wife's  help,  but  the 
catalogue  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  cites  it  as  her  work. 

2  Ville  de  Paris,  Paroisse  de  la  Madeleine,  ville  VEveque.  Extrait  du  registre 
des  actes  de  naissance  de  Van  1786.  Bib.  Nat.,  Papiers  de  Roland,  vol.  iii, /r. 
nouv.  acq.  9534,  f.  322. 

»  Bib.  Nat.,  Papiers  de  Roland,  fr.  nouv.  acq.  9534,  f.  392,  and  A.  N.,  F^*  570. 


394  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

They  grew  more  and  more  apart,  and  the  difficult  task  of  mak- 
ing both  ends  meet  fell  upon  her  shoulders.  In  her  humble 
apartment  in  the  rue  de  Gretry,  she  struggled  on,  doing  much 
of  the  housework  herself,  helping  to  entertain  her  husband's 
friends,  and  going  without  real  necessities.  To  add  to  her  trou- 
bles, their  house  became  a  kind  of  entrepot  for  persons  about 
to  emigrate  to  the  New  World,  ^  and  they  were  not  always 
the  most  agreeable  guests.  Apropos  of  one  of  these  guests,  a 
certain  Marquis  de  Wahody,^  who  was  always  making  up  his 
mind  to  go  to  America  and  yet  never  starting,  she  wrote :  "  Such 
people  may  be  classed  with  those  philosophers  who,  I  believe, 
are  disciples  of  whomsoever  can  help  them,  with  no  idea  that 
there  are  any  limits,  who  are  always  pursuing  chimeras,  seeking 
happiness  and  never  finding  it,  looking  for  repose  in  indolence, 
always  on  the  watch  for  a  chance  to  play  a  leading  part.  Such 
is  our  Pythagorean,  always  proclaiming  that  he  is  ready  to 
give  up  comforts,  yet  always  making  himseK  comfortable;  never 
wishing  to  bother  anyone,  yet  often  asking  for  things  which  are 
not  in  the  house,  milk,  for  instance,  and  expressing  astonish- 
ment that  you  cannot  procure  it  in  Paris  whenever  you  happen 
to  want  it. "  ^ 

As  a  refuge  from  all  this  weariness  and  as  a  means  of  getting 
her  husband  out  of  the  turmoil  and  dangers  of  political  life, 
Madame  Brissot  often  thought  of  emigration  to  America.  The 
19th  of  January,  1790,  she  wrote  to  her  brother  that  she  was 
preparing  to  join  him  in  America,  and  asked  him  for  a  list  of 
things  which  she  ought  to  bring  with  her  from  Europe.  "  I  re- 
joice," she  added,  "that  the  Revolution  is  over,  but  every  day 
I  have  reason  for  distress  because  of  anxiety  for  my  husband."  ^ 

But  unfortunately  for  Madame  Brissot,  the  Revolution  was 
not  over,  and  as  Brissot  became  more  and  more  absorbed  in  it, 
life  grew  still  harder  for  her.  Her  health  became  so  fragile  that 
she  could  not  care  for  the  three  children  alone,  and  she  was 

^  Correspondance,  242-45. 

«  Valady  is  probably  intended.  See  Correspondance,  244;  note  of  M.  Per- 
roud. 

«  Correspondance,  242-45.  *  Ibid.,  248. 


FAMILY  LIFE  395 

often  worn  out  with  fatigue  and  worry. ^  "Up  to  this  moment," 
she  WTote  to  her  brother  in  America,  "I  have  had  to  exercise 
such  economy  that  I  fear  my  health  will  be  permanently  af- 
fected by  it.  I  feel  the  necessity  of  living  differently,  of  having 
good  service,  of  being  well  housed,  of  getting  good  air,  especially 
of  having  country  air  in  the  summer.  This  last  has  become  in- 
dispensable, and  even  this  enjoyment  costs  money.  ...  I  do 
not  yet  know  where  to  go  in  the  country  this  summer.  While 
waiting,  I  go  every  day  to  M.  Petion's,  the  mayor  of  Paris,  who 
has  a  charming  garden  out  on  the  boulevard  near  us." 

The  disposition  of  her  children  and  the  means  of  providing 
them  with  a  proper  education  was  another  source  of  anxiety. 
She  was  evidently  sorely  troubled  by  the  traits  of  character 
which  they  showed.  "FeHx,"  she  confessed  sadly  to  her  sister, 
"is  not  any  too  obedient,  verj^  lazy,  and  does  not  know  much. 
...  They  are  children  about  whom  there  is  nothing  extraor- 
dinary, except  their  very  bad  disposition,  yet  I  hope  they  are 
going  to  be  sensible  and  good."  Their  inexplicable  disposition, 
she  admitted  with  humiliation,  might  be  due  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  she  had  done  too  much  for  them.  But  if  she  were 
in  part  responsible,  her  husband,  she  declared,  was  also  to 
blame.  He  was  so  wrapped  up  in  political  affairs  that  he  paid 
no  heed  to  the  education  of  the  children,  and  did  not  assist  her 
at  all  in  bringing  them  up.  He  could  not  or  would  not  give  any 
time  to  teaching,  and  private  tutors  were  expensive.  The  result 
was  both  sad  neglect  for  the  children  and  her  own  growing 
alienation  from  her  husband,  a  sad  realization,  as  she  put  it,  of 
a  closer  attachment  to  her  children  than  to  him.^ 

But  though  shut  away  by  her  family  cares  from  much  con- 
tact with  people,  Madame  Brissot  was  a  keen  judge  of  charac- 
ter. She  estimated  Desforges  at  his  true  worth,  much  to  his 
discomfort,  3  saw  through  the  pretensions  to  virtue  and  self- 
sacrifice  of  the  Marquis  de  Valady,'*  and  weighed  with  dis- 
crimination the  value  of  the  would-be  emigrants  who  stopped 

1  Correspondance,  283-84.  *  Ibid.,  328. 

»  Memoires,  i,  345.  Also  see  p.  391.  *  See  p.  394. 


396  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

at  her  home  on  their  way  to  the  New  World.  ^  To  Brissot,  en- 
thusiasm for  emigration  seems  to  have  been  a  sufficient  pass- 
port, but  to  Madame  Brissot's  more  discerning  mind  mere 
enthusiasm  did  not  seem  sufficient  guarantee  of  a  good  pioneer. 
As  an  instance  of  her  shrewd  judgment,  note  a  letter  to  her 
brother  in  America  in  which  she  sets  forth  the  character  of 
certain  newcomers  he  is  likely  to  receive.  The  Messrs.  Vallots 
had  just  bought  some  land  of  the  Scioto  Land  Company,  she 
writes,  and  her  brother  would  better  be  informed  of  what 
manner  of  men  they  were.  One  was  a  jeweler  out  of  work;  the 
other  had  been  employed  by  the  Patriote  Frangais,  but  he  could 
not  get  on  with  Madame  Dupont,^  was  brusque,  possessed  of 
no  great  intelligence,  and  liked  to  take  it  easy.  Since  these 
brothers  had  no  way  of  establishing  themselves  in  France,  it 
had  occurred  to  another  brother  of  theirs  and  to  Brissot  that 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  send  them  to  America.  The  older 
was  rather  narrow-minded,  and  not  at  all  good-looking,  but 
he  was  not  likely  to  do  any  harm,  except  through  stupidity. 
The  younger  was  better-looking,  but  very  egotistical,  and  more- 
over, likely  to  disagree  with  his  brother. 

Having  thus  described  the  character  of  these  prospective 
emigrants,  Madame  Brissot  went  on  to  give  her  brother  some 
shrewd  practical  advice.  In  case  the  younger  brother  did  fall 
into  difficulties,  the  elder  brother,  she  argued,  would  be  very 
likely  to  attempt  to  get  rid  of  him  by  proffering  his  services  to 
Monsieur  Dupont.  Let  the  latter  by  no  means  accept.  The 
case  of  the  young  Mentelle  was  different,  she  continued.  He 
had  disappeared  from  home,  and  as  nothing  had  been  heard 
from  him  in  three  months,  it  was  not  improbable  that  he  might 
turn  up  in  America,  and  if  so,  she  counseled  her  brother  to  re- 
ceive him.  Although  the  youth  in  question  had  not  showed  him- 
self particularly  industrious,  she  felt  that  his  faults  were  those 
which  kindly  counsel  and  good  surroundings  might  remedy.' 

^  Correspondance,  242-45. 

^  Brissot's  mother-in-law,  who  had  charge  of  the  office.   See  p.  123. 

'  Correspondance,  242-45. 


FAMILY  LIFE  S97 

Such  was  the  discerning  character  of  Madame  Brissot's  ad- 
vice. It  bears  out  Madame  Roland's  statement  that  she  had 
much  tact  and  judgment.^  That  Madame  Brissot  always 
looked  at  matters  with  sound  practical  sense  is  evident  from 
this  correspondence  with  her  brother  and  sister  in  America. 
When,  for  instance,  her  brother  showed  a  growing  attachment 
for  some  one  who  seemed  to  her  unsuitable  as  his  wife,  she 
gave  her  sister  shrewd  advice  how  to  check  the  matter;  and 
when  her  sister  Nancy's  marriage  was  imder  consideration,  she 
did  not  forget  the  practical  problem  involved,  and  reminded 
her  that  if  her  marriage  took  her  away  from  her  brother,  there 
would  be  an  added  diflficulty  for  both  of  them  m  the  way  of 
domestic  service.^ 

On  this  occasion  of  her  sister's  proposed  marriage,  Madame 
Brissot  offered  her  advice  which  showed  an  imderstanding  sym- 
pathy and  at  the  same  time  revealed  a  wisdom  which  seems  to 
have  been  born  not  only  of  knowledge  of  the  world,  but  also  of 
sad  experience  on  her  own  part.  Nancy  had  evidently  written 
telling  her  of  her  growing  affection  for  a  certain  man  and  of  her 
determination  to  put  him  to  a  year's  proof.  Madame  Brissot 
replies  that  while  she  commends  her  sister's  resolve  to  remain 
indifferent,  she  cannot  help  but  doubt  her  firmness.  In  fact, 
she  suspects  that  she  is  already  too  much  taken  with  the 
stranger's  good  qualities  to  listen  to  any  counsel.  Yet  she  needs 
to  remember  that  man  is  fickle;  that  if  she  looks  for  unaltering 
happiness,  she  is  sure  to  be  disillusioned;  her  husband  will  have 
his  own  interests  in  which  she  will  not  share,  and  she  will  un- 
doubtedly feel  herself  neglected.  Above  all,  there  will  surely 
be  discord  and  unhappmess  if  the  husband  neglects  his  children, 
or  if  husband  and  wife  are  not  in  harmony  on  the  education 
of  the  children.  "May  my  example,"  Madame  Brissot  wrote 
in  sadness  and  weariness,  "put  you  on  your  guard  against  the 
rocks  which  you  are  surely  going  to  encounter."  ^ 

1  Correspondance,  pp.  268-69.  Also  Memoires  de  Madame  Roland,  I,  198. 
Madame  Roland  speaks  of  her  with  infinite  esteem  and  respect. 

2  Ibid.,  326-28.  ^  Ibid.,  329. 


398  /    BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

In  her  shrewd  judgment  of  character  in  general  she  clearly 
discerned  the  weakness  of  her  husband.  In  a  single  word, 
which  at  the  same  time  betrayed  her  own  suffering,  she 
summed  it  up.  "I  confess,"  she  wrote,  "that  I  have  not 
the  strength  to  consent  to  sacrifice  my  husband  for  —  I 
will  not  say  my  country  —  but  for  a  race  of  men  who  will  be 
stronger  than  he. "  ^  That  Madame  Brissot  herself  was  stronger 
than  her  husband  in  many  ways,  one  cannot  but  suspect.  In 
sane  and  penetrating  judgment  she  certainly  showed  herself 
his  superior.  Brissot's  fatal  optimism  was  constantly  leading 
him  into  difficulty,  while  Madame  Brissot's  ability  to  realize 
that  there  was  a  possibility  of  failure  as  well  as  of  success  gave 
her  better  balance  and  made  her  a  safer  guide.  Brissot  seems 
to  have  had  some  appreciation  of  this.  "Oh,  my  Felicite,"  he 
wrote,  "your  whole  soul  is  as  pure,  as  strong  as  that  of  those 
celebrated  women  like  Cornelia  and  Portia,  who  were  well  edu- 
cated and  on  an  equality  with  their  husbands.  Like  them,  you 
know  how  to  scorn  the  grandeur,  the  pleasures,  the  fatal 
vanities  of  the  world;  like  them,  you  know  how  to  place  your 
happiness  in  that  of  your  husband;  like  them,  you  know  how 
to  inspire  him  to  virtue  by  your  example;  with  him  you  seek 
the  truth;  sometimes  your  eye,  more  fortunate  than  his,  dis- 
covers it;  it  is  often  from  you  that  he  draws  that  noble  courage 
which  characterizes  his  writings;  your  severe  criticism  purifies 
them  and  makes  them  more  useful.  "^ 

His  wife's  family  also  was  devoted  to  Brissot.  From  the 
time  of  his  marriage  he  seems  to  have  been  the  center  of  their 
interest,  and  with  his  fortunes  the  entire  family  prospered  or 
suffered.  He  used  his  influence  in  their  behalf,  and  they  in  turn 
aided  and  encouraged  him.  With  his  brother-in-law,  Frangois 
Dupont,  he  was  on  terms  of  special  intimacy.  The  residence 
of  the  latter  at  Boulogne  put  him  in  a  position  where  he  could 
be  very  useful  to  Brissot  in  his  enterprise  in  connection  with 
the  Lycee.  From  a  lively  correspondence  carried  on  between 
them  at  the  epoch  of  Brissot's  London  residence,  it  would 
^  Correspondance,  248.  ^  De  la  Virile,  241. 


FAMILY  LIFE  399 

appear  that  Brissot  looked  upon  Dupont  for  aid  in  getting  his 
publications  conveyed  into  France,  and  also  in  securing  infor- 
mation as  to  the  condition  of  commerce  in  various  parts  of 
Europe.  And  on  the  other  hand,  Brissot  helped  Dupont  by 
looking  after  the  payment  of  his  obligations  and  by  furthering 
his  ambition  towards  a  place  in  the  diplomatic  service.^  They 
evidently  regarded  America  as  affording  a  good  opening.  In 
May,  1783,  Dupont  wrote  to  Brissot:  "I  told  him  [Swinton] 
that  I  had  put  off  my  journey  to  America  till  next  year,  and 
that  I  ought  not  to  set  out  without  having  the  position  of  con- 
sul or  secretary  interpreter  of  the  embassy;  that  it  is  not  too 
soon  to  set  about  it  now,  and  that  he  might  perhaps  aid  me 
through  Monsieur  de  Beaumarchais.  I  will  write  to  Monsieur 
to  get  him  to  present  a  memoir  in  my  behalf  to  Monsieur  de 
Vergennes.  ...  If  you  present  one  for  me,  do  not  forget  to 
mention  the  languages.  "^  Meanwhile,  Dupont  having  become 
engaged  in  business  which  took  him  to  Germany  and  eastern 
Europe,  an  American  consulship  began  to  look  less  attractive 
and  the  possibility  of  a  position  in  the  Levant  suggested  itseK 
instead.^  Such  plans  came  to  nothing,  and  by  the  beginning  of 
1789  he  was  established  in  America  near  Philadelphia,  not  as 
consul  but  as  an  American  farmer.*  Brissot  gave  him  letters  of 
introduction  to  his  personal  and  business  friends,  who  received 
him  with  much  cordiality,  gave  him  helpful  advice,  and  invited 
him  to  their  homes.^  But  it  was  three  years  before  Brissot 
could  do  anjrthing  for  him  in  the  way  of  political  preferment. 
Finally,  after  the  10th  of  August,  1792,  he  succeeded  in  having 
him  made  vice-consul  of  France  at  Philadelphia. 

For  making  this  appointment  Brissot  seems  to  have  been 
much  criticized.  It  was  an  evidence  of  nepotism,  his  opponents 
declared;  the  position  was  very  important  and  gave  oppor- 
tunity for  working  much  good  or  ill  to  France,  and  it  showed 

»  Correspondance,  45,  50-53.  ^  Ibid.,  53.  ^  Ji^i^  ^  87-90. 

*  Lettres  de  Madame  Roland,  ii,  217,  note. 

'  Letters  were  sent  to  him  in  care  of  Brissot's  friend,  Miers  Fisher.  See  the 
Craigie  Papers  in  the  collections  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  and 
the  Scioto  Papers  in  the  collections  of  the  American  Historical  Society. 


400  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

that  he  was  in  close  connection  with  the  government  of  the 
United  States.^  In  meeting  these  criticisms,  Brissot  called  at- 
tention to  the  insignificance  of  the  position  and  the  impossibil- 
ity of  his  deriving  from  it  any  influence  upon  American  afiFairs; 
and  while  admitting  that  he  did  secure  the  appointment  for 
his  brother-in-law,  he  declared  that  this  was  the  one  and  only 
case  where  he  used  his  position  to  seek  advancement  for  any 
member  of  his  family.  Moreover,  no  one  need  charge  him,  even 
in  this  single  instance,  with  giving  an  appointment  regardless 
of  merit,  for  Dupont  was  eminently  suited  for  the  position.  His 
brother-in-law,  he  declared,  was  a  republican  in  principle;  in- 
deed his  chief  motive  for  emigrating  to  the  United  States  was 
his  hatred  of  the  monarchical  form  of  government;  moreover, 
he  had  a  wide  commercial  experience  and  an  extended  ac- 
quaintance, spoke  several  languages,  including  English,  and 
what  was  of  great  importance,  he  possessed  public  esteem  and 
confidence.^ 

Besides  a  brother-in-law,  Brissot's  marriage  gave  him  three 
sisters-in-law  to  whom  he  was  deeply  attached.^  Of  the  eldest, 
Marie  Therese,  little  seems  to  be  known;  the  second,  Julie 
Henriette,  was  with  Brissot  and  his  wife  in  London  in  1783 
for  a  time.  Later  she  assisted  Brissot  in  the  ofiice  of  the  Patriote 
Frangais.  Of  the  third  sister,  Marie  Anne,  commonly  called 
Nancy,  Brissot  seems  to  have  been  especially  fond.  He  evi- 
dently saw  a  good  deal  of  her  in  her  girlhood,  during  the  period 
of  his  engagement  with  Felicite,  and  while  conversing  on  the 
sciences  with  the  latter,  delighted  in  trying  to  influence  and 
develop  her  young  sister.  "Already,"  he  wrote  later  in  speak- 
ing of  this  period  of  her  youth,  "she  showed  that  strength  of 
character  which  she  has  since  developed."  After  his  marriage 

1  In  a  note  to  Brissot's  Memoires,  ii,  257,  M.  Perroud  quotes  from  Des- 
moulins's  Hisioire  des  Brissotins  to  show  how  the  facts  were  twisted.  "Com- 
ment ne  serions-nous  pas  f/jfame*  .*""  asked  Desmoulins, — perhaps  with  the 
irony  of  intentional  exaggeration,  —  "comment  novs  viendrait-il  des  grains 
d'Ameriqu6?  qui  est-ce  qui  est  consul-genSral  de  France?  Cest  le  beau-frdre  de 
Brissot.'' 

2  Mimoires,  ii,  256-57.  «  Ibid.,  i,  301. 


FAMILY  LIFE  401 

she  went  over  to  London  to  live  with  her  sister  FeHcite  and 
Brissot,^  and  then  later  went  to  join  her  brother  Frangois  in 
America.  She  was  evidently  very  attractive,  and  the  question 
of  her  marriage  was  a  source  of  much  anxiety  to  her  family  at 
home.  In  the  eyes  of  her  family  no  one  seemed  quite  good 
enough  for  her,^  and  her  brother  was  much  relieved  when  what 
he  feared  was  a  possible  engagement  came  to  nothing.  Later 
she  married  a  M.  Aublay  and  went  to  London  to  live. 

But  if  Brissot  was  attached  to  his  brother-in-law  and  to  his 
sisters-in-law,  it  was  with  his  mother-in-law  with  whom  the 
bond  was  closest,  and  on  whom  he  constantly  relied.  She 
seems  to  have  been  a  woman  of  energy  and  ability,  to  whom  all 
her  children  turned  for  advice  and  help  in  all  the  affairs  of  life, 
both  business  as  well  as  personal.  It  was  to  her,  in  the  first 
place,  that  he  owed  the  introduction  to  Mentelle,  which  in 
turn  meant  the  entree  to  the  best  literary  and  scientific  circles 
of  Paris  and  the  opportunity  for  a  closer  acquaintance  with 
Felicite.  It  was  she  who,  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  advanced 
the  ready  money  necessary  for  establishing  his  Lycee,  took  him 
back  to  Boulogne  with  her  and  started  him  on  his  English  ven- 
tures with  encouragement  and  sound  advice.  It  was  she  again 
who  received  his  business  partner,  Desforges,  on  his  way 
through  Boulogne,  and  when  the  enterprise  failed,  helped  Bris- 
sot out  of  dire  straits  by  a  substantial  present.  It  was  she  who, 
on  the  news  of  Brissot's  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille,  risked 
great  danger  in  crossing  the  Channel  in  order  that  she  might 
break  the  news  to  her  daughter.^  When  the  Patriote  Frangais 
was  founded,  it  was  she  who  took  charge  of  the  office.*  It  was 
her  advice  which  was  looked  to  in  difficulty,  and  when  Felicite 
was  disturbed  and  perplexed  by  Brissot's  neglect  of  their  chil- 
dren and  at  the  division  which  had  developed  between  herself 
and  her  husband  on  the  subject,  it  was  she  to  whom  the  wife 
turned  for  help,  sure  that  she  would  understand  the  situation 
and  would  be  able  to  heal  the  breach  and  bring  Brissot  to  a 

^  See  article  by  M.  Perroud  referred  to  above.  ^  Correspond ance,  307-08. 
'    '  MSmoires,  i,  300-01,  343,  393;  n,  56.  *  Correspondance,  242. 


402  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

more  reasonable  attitude  of  mind.^  And  finally,  during  Bris- 
sot's  imprisonment,  it  was  she  to  whom  he  wrote  his  last 
letters  and  who  took  care  of  the  family  after  his  death. ^ 

It  was  only  when  death  was  imminent  that,  at  last,  Brissot 
fully  realized  —  what  he  had  only  had  glimmerings  of  before  — 
that  he  had  neglected  his  family,  and  in  the  last  few  weeks  of 
his  life,  he  poured  out  his  soul  in  what  he  called  "  Un  Legs  a  mes 
enfants."  After  setting  forth  the  object  and  aims  which  had 
actuated  his  own  life  and  begging  his  children  to  profit  by  his 
mistakes,  he  gave  utterance  to  a  last  cry  of  vain  regret  —  he 
could  not  quite  bring  himself  to  say  for  his  political  career,  but 
for  the  trouble  and  grief  it  had  brought  to  his  family,  whom, 
though  he  had  neglected,  he  loved.  "It  is  painful,  indeed," 
he  wrote,  "  for  a  man  of  tender  feelings,  for  a  good  husband,  a 
good  father,  to  separate  himself  from  those  he  loves,  and,  I 
confess  it,  my  children,  this  is  the  thought  which  has  often 
overcome  me,  which  had  made  me  shed  burning  tears.  To 
leave  you  so  soon !  You  whom  I  have  scarcely  seen,  you  whom 
my  occupations  have  prevented  my  taking  care  of,  bringing  up 
myself!  To  leave  you  at  the  moment  when,  breaking  my  po- 
litical bonds,  I  was  going  to  devote  myself  to  your  education, 
and  to  deserve  your  tenderness  by  showing  myself  your  father ! 
Above  all,  to  leave  my  wife,  who,  since  our  marriage,  has 
known,  in  her  alliance  with  me,  only  the  sorrows  of  persecution 
or  the  privations  of  solitude.  ...  To  leave  her  at  the  moment 
when  I  was  planning  to  adopt  a  line  of  conduct  which  would 
secure  for  us  a  sweet  domestic  life!  Yes,  these  thoughts  are 
heartrending.  .  .  .  But  calling  to  my  aid  the  counsels  of  phi- 
losophy, I  console  myself  by  the  thought  that  my  children  will 
find  in  their  mother  a  teacher  capable  of  guiding  them  in  the 
paths  of  austerity,  in  good  character;  that  my  Felicite  will  find 

1  Correspondance,  284.  Madame  Dupont,  like  Felicity,  seems  to  have  been 
well  aware  of  Brissot's  weak  points.  Just  as  he  was  starting  for  America  she 
wrote  him:  "  Tenez  voire  jugement  en  svspens,  mon  cker,  tant  que  vous  ayez  mi 
et  entendu  par  vous-mime.  Qui  vous  connaitra  ce  faible  en  abusera  et  vous 
rendra  nouvent  in  juste."  —  Correspondance,  191. 

*  Article  by  M.  Perroud  referred  to  above. 


FAMILY  LIFE  403 

in  her  own  soul,  nourished  from  her  youth  in  the  principles  of 
reason,  strength  sufficient  to  support  this  frightful  blow;  that 
all  her  family,  that  her  generous  mother,  that  her  loving  sisters 
and  her  worthy  brother  will  form  but  one  family,  one  soul, 
where  will  be  graven  the  image  of  a  man  whose  most  ardent 
desire  was  to  make  them  happy."  Then,  with  a  note  of  hope, 
he  adds,  "I  still  believe  that  all  public  spirit  is  not  lost,  that 
gratitude  dwells  in  some  hearts  and  that  generous  friendship 
will  pay  a  public  debt,  will  come  to  the  rescue  of  a  family  whose 
interests  I  have  perpetually  sacrificed  to  the  public  good."  ^ 

As  has  been  said,  the  family  at  the  moment  of  Brissot's 
death  was  under  the  care  of  his  mother-in-law.  The  situation 
was  harrowing,  for  it  was  not  only  the  imprisonment  and  exe- 
cution of  her  son-in-law  which  she  had  to  endure,  but  also 
heartrending  anxiety  for  her  daughter,  Madame  Brissot,  who 
had  been  imprisoned.  She  seems  to  have  borne  the  burden 
manfully;  at  all  events,  she  appears  to  have  been  able  to  keep 
from  Brissot  the  news  of  Madame  Brissot's  whereabouts,  so 
that  he  was  able  to  die  in  ignorance  of  the  fate  impending  over 
his  wife.^ 

After  the  arrest  of  her  husband,  Madame  Brissot  had  been 
threatened  by  angry  crowds  which  gathered  about  her  abode 
at  Saint-Cloud  and  had  been  obliged  to  seek  other  refuge  for 
herself  and  her  children,  but  she  was  soon  discovered  and 
placed  under  arrest  by  the  committee  of  general  security  of  the 
municipality  of  Saint-Cloud.^  Her  case  was  then  taken  up  by 
the  National  Committee  of  General  Security,  who  put  her  under 
arrest  at  the  Hotel  de  Necker,  rue  de  Richelieu,  under  the  care 
of  the  citizen  Courtois,  discharged  the  commissioners  from 
Saint-Cloud  and  decreed  that,  since  her  journeys  and  absences 
made  her  an  object  of  suspicion,  she  be  brought  before  the 
Committee  for  examination.*   Her  examination  took  place  on 

^  Un  Legs  d,  mes  enfanis,  Memoires,  i,  10-11. 

2  See  article  by  M.  Perroud  referred  to  above.         '  A.  N.,  4443,  no.  18. 
*  Extrait  du  registre  des  arretes  generaux  du  comite  de  sHret^  gin^rale.   A.  N., 
AF«  286.  Tuetey.  viii,  32,  65-66. 


404  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

August  11,  when  she  was  closely  questioned  as  to  Brissot's 
poUtical  relations  and  her  own  connection  with  them.^  She  was 
asked  why  she  had  left  Paris  to  retire  to  Saint-Cloud?  who  were 
the  persons  whom  she  was  accustomed  to  see  at  Saint-Cloud? 
did  she  know  that  the  concierge  at  whose  lodging  she  lived  was 
a  relative  of  Gensonne?  had  she  not  received  proscribed  depu- 
ties? what  had  become  of  her  husband's  books  and  papers? 
when  had  she  last  visited  England?  where  had  she  gone  on  her 
last  absence  from  Paris?  how  much  money  had  she  sent  over 
to  England?  where  had  she  invested  it?  what  correspondence 
did  Brissot  maintain  with  Englishmen  or  other  foreigners? 
what  was  the  nature  of  the  correspondence  which  Brissot  had 
with  Roland  and  with  Madame  Roland?  what  was  the  nature 
of  the  correspondence  of  Brissot  with  Petion  and  the  other 
proscribed  deputies?  had  she  ever  seen  any  agent  of  England, 
or  of  any  other  enemy,  come  to  speak  with  Brissot?  did  she  not 
know  that  Brissot  was  on  intimate  terms  with  Dimiouriez?  In 
answer  to  these  searching  inquiries,  Madame  Brissot  replied 
that  she  had  gone  to  Saint-Cloud  because  it  was  her  custom  to 
spend  a  part  of  every  year  in  the  coimtry  on  account  of  her 
health;  that  she  did  not  know  that  the  concierge  was  related 
to  Gensonne;  that  her  last  journey  was  to  Chartres  and  that 
she  fled  there  to  escape  the  hostile  invectives  which  she  heard 
under  her  windows  after  her  husband's  arrest;  that  it  was  nine 
years  since  she  had  been  in  England;  that  she  had  never  sent 
any  funds  there  or  invested  any  anywhere  else.  Of  her  hus- 
band's political  relations  or  of  his  correspondence  she  knew 
nothing  whatever;  she  had  never  heard  of  any  alliance  with 
Dumouriez;  Guadet  was  the  only  one  of  the  proscribed  depu- 
ties whom  she  had  seen,  and  she  certainly  had  never  received 
any  of  them  at  her  house. 

This  general  denial  was  apparently  not  satisfactory  to  the 

Committee,  for  she  was  still  kept  under  surveillance.  However, 

either  because  the  Committee  became  less  rigorous,  or  on 

account  of  the  kindness  of  heart  of  the  officer  to  whom  she  was 

^  Correspondance,  373-76. 


FAMILY  LIFE  405 

entrusted,  she  was  allowed  to  go  about  and  to  talk  with  friends 
whom  she  met,  while  the  officer  kept  at  a  distance.  But  even 
this  small  measure  of  liberty  allowed  her  provoked  the  dis- 
content of  the  people,  and  complaint  was  made  by  certain 
women  that  vmdue  favoritism  was  being  shown  and  that  the 
wife  of  a  poor  man  would  not  have  been  so  treated  —  a  signi- 
ficant evidence  of  the  popular  feeling  toward  the  Girondins.^ 

Whether  this  hounding  of  poor  Madame  Brissot  resulted  at 
once  in  curtailing  her  liberty  does  not  appear,  but  at  all  events, 
on  the  30th  of  October,  on  the  order  of  the  Committee  of 
General  Security,  she,  with  her  child  (probably  the  youngest), 
was  put  in  prison  at  La  Force. ^  Here  she  remained  till  the  19th 
of  the  following  February,  when  she  was  released  by  order  of 
the  same  Committee.^ 

Though  the  record  of  these  weeks  is  a  blank,  the  loneliness 
and  torturing  anxiety  which  she  suffered  can  readily  be  con- 
ceived. On  her  release  she  had  to  face  the  problem  of  providing 
for  her  family.  It  was  a  weary  struggle,  and  had  she  not  been 
able  to  take  advantage  of  the  turning  tide  of  public  opinion  in 
favor  of  the  Girondins,  she  must  have  succumbed.  Embold- 
ened by  this  changing  attitude,  she  made  request  in  May,  1795, 
for  the  restoration  of  her  husband's  papers,^  —  a  request  which 
after  some  delay  was  finally  granted.^  A  few  months  later  she 
ventured  to  put  in  a  claim  for  herself  and  for  her  children  for 
the  losses  she  had  sustained  because  of  the  persecution  of  which 
she  and  her  husband  had  been  the  victims.  Immediately  after 
the  fatal  31st  of  May,  she  wrote,  her  husband  and  she  had  been 
obliged  to  separate  and  to  abandon  their  home,  which  was 
closed  by  the  government.    She  had  been  obliged  to  wander 

^  Rapport  de  V observation.  La  Tour-La-Montagne,  A.  N.,  F^  36883. 

^  Extrait  du  registre  des  mandats  d'amener  du  comite  de  surete  genSrale,  A.  N., 
AFn  289;  Tuetey,  viii,  3367. 

^  Lettre  par  le  concierge  adjoint  de  la  maison  de  la  Petite  Force,  Paris,  P''  ven- 
tose,  an  II  (February  19,  1794).   See  Correspondance,  397. 

*  Requete  de  la  veuve  de  Brissot,  A.  N.,  W  292,  M  204  (^  partie) ;  Tuetey, 
VIII,  566. 

^  Correspondance,  401. 


406  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

about  for  several  months,  seeking  a  refuge  for  herself  and  her 
children,  till  she  herself  was  imprisoned.  The  journeys  which 
she  had  made,  the  apartments  which  she  had  been  obliged  to 
rent  in  different  places,  caused  her  unusual  expenses,  which  she 
was  able  to  meet  only  with  the  generous  aid  of  relatives  and 
friends.  And  when,  finally,  she  was  able  to  reclaim  her  furni- 
ture and  her  husband's  library,  she  received  only  a  part  of  it 
and  that  part  was  in  bad  condition.  She  perceived  with  grief 
that  a  large  part  had  been  stolen,  spoiled  or  lost.  She  had  had 
made,  she  added,  an  appraisal  by  a  competent  authority.  Be- 
sides this  loss  there  were  the  expenses  which  she  had  been 
obliged  to  undergo,  which  brought  the  whole  amount  to  80,510 
francs.^  This  sum  she  begged  the  government  to  reimburse. 
To  this  request  the  government  acceded  in  part,  by  ordering 
the  payment  of  50,000  francs  "for  the  property  which  had 
been  taken  from  her  during  the  imprisonment  of  her  husband." 
The  other  expenses  it  was  evidently  unwilling  to  make  good.^ 
This  was  in  September,  1795.  The  next  month  the  general 
trend  of  opinion  in  favor  of  the  Girondins  was  evidenced  by  the 
action  of  the  Convention.  Those  proscribed  deputies  who  had 
succeeded  in  escaping  were  re-admitted  to  the  Convention,  and 
those  to  whom  it  was  too  late  to  make  reparation  received  the 
recompense  of  being  honored  as  "martyrs  of  liberty."  On  the 
3d  of  October,  1795,  a  special  celebration  was  held  in  their 
memory.  Every  member  of  the  Convention  wore  crape  on  his 
arm;  a  funeral  urn  was  set  up  in  the  hall  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion: "To  the  magnanimous  defenders  of  liberty,  who  died  in 
prison  or  upon  the  scaffold  during  the  tyranny";  and  the 
President  made  an  eloquent  address  in  which  he  recalled  the 
services  rendered  to  liberty  by  the  martyred  representatives 
of  the  people,  "their  constant  courage  and  their  tragic  end."' 

1  Note  the  amount;  it  was  evidently  reckoned  in  the  depreciated  paper  cur- 
rency. For  example,  three  tablecloths  were  estimated  at  2500  francs.  The 
list  included  underclothing,  dresses,  table-linen,  ornaments,  household  furni- 
ture, wine,  and  books.   Correapondance,  402-07. 

*  Correspondance,  408. 

'  Proch-verbal  de  la  Convention,  October  3,  1795. 


FAMILY  LIFE  407 

The  next  year  more  tangible  reparation  was  made  by  the 
government  of  the  Directory.  The  26th  of  April,  1796,  the 
Council  of  Five  Hundred  decreed  that,  "considering  that  Va- 
laze,  Petion,  Carra,  Buzot,  Gorsas,  Brissot,  members  of  the 
National  Convention,  are  of  those  representatives  of  the  peo- 
ple, who,  after  having  cooperated  to  establish  liberty  and  to 
found  the  Republic,  sealed  it  with  their  blood,  and  died  victims 
of  their  devotion  to  the  country  and  of  their  respect  for  the 
rights  of  the  nation,"  the  widow  of  each  of  them  should  have  a 
pension  of  two  thousand  francs  a  year  for  herself,  and  a  pension 
of  two  thousand  francs  a  year  for  each  of  her  children  till  he 
should  have  reached  the  age  of  fifteen  years. ^  In  accordance 
with  this  decree,  Madame  Brissot  was  given  a  pension.  Thus, 
support  of  his  family,  which  in  his  dying  moments  he  had  felt 
confident  would  in  some  manner  be  provided  for,  was  in  part, 
at  least,  undertaken  by  the  government.  ^  But  even  with  this 
help  it  was  with  much  diflSculty  that  Madame  Brissot  man- 
aged to  get  along.  She  was  thoroughly  weary  of  the  struggle, 
but  somehow  or  other  a  means  of  support  must  be  found, 
and  in  1799,  with  her  mother  and  sisters,  she  attempted  to 
establish  a  school  at  Versailles.  An  announcement  under  the 
heading,  "Education  de  famille  sous  la  direction  de  citoyenne 
Clery,  veuve  Dupont,  a  Versailles,  rue  du  Peuple  frangais,  no.  4," 
in  which  they  set  forth  in  the  most  alluring  terms  at  their  com- 
mand the  advantages  of  their  establishment,  appeared  in  the 
Decade  philosophique.  Their  experience  of  the  world,  the  suc- 
cess of  Madame  Dupont  with  her  own  children,  the  good  loca- 
tion, the  fine  air,  and  beautiful  gardens  are  all  pictured  as 
making  their  school  especially  desirable.  A  note,  apparently 
by  the  editor  of  the  Decade,  adds  that  it  may  interest  the  public 
to  know  that  the  citizens  Dupont  and  Clery  are  the  mother-in- 
law,  widow,  and  sisters-in-law  of  Brissot.' 

*  Resolution  du  conseil  des  Cinq-Cents,  7  florSal,  an  IV,  quoted  in  Vatel, 
Charlotte  Cor  day  et  les  Girondins,  ii,  27. 

*  Recompense  nationale,  9  florSal,  an  IV,  A.  N.,  F^"  570. 

'  Article  by  M.  Perroud  referred  to  above.  See  also  Correspondance,  418-19. 


408  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

The  project  does  not  seem  to  have  succeeded,  and  Madame 
Brissot  was  obUged  to  ask  help  from  the  government.  She 
seems  to  have  considered  the  possibility  of  obtaining  a  sub- 
sidy for  a  school  (probably  the  one  referred  to  above);  but 
when  this  fell  through  she  tried  to  get  a  place  as  directress 
in  one  of  the  hospitals,  a  position  which  she  sought  rather  be- 
cause it  was  the  only  thing  available  than  because  she  felt  any 
special  fitness  for  the  work.  Indeed,  she  frankly  confessed  in 
a  private  letter  that  she  much  preferred  educational  work,  and 
that  after  her  long  struggle  with  misfortune  she  felt  as  though 
she  were  recovering  from  an  illness  and  doubted  her  adequacy 
to  the  task.^ 

She  finally  appears  to  have  found  a  means  of  livelihood  in 
a  reading-room  or  bookshop  which  she  maintained  at  no.  7  rue 
du  Commerce,  Paris,  while  she  and  her  mother  lived  aroimd 
the  corner  on  the  rue  de  Furstenburg.^ 

While  seeking  government  employment  for  herself,  she  had 
also  applied  to  the  government  for  aid  in  the  education  of  her 
children.  On  one  occasion  she  asked  for  a  place  for  her  young- 
est son  in  the  College  des  Colonies.  Two  of  her  sons  had  been 
placed  at  Saint-Cyr,  but  as  one  of  them  preferred  the  marine 
service,  she  asked  that  a  scholarship  given  to  the  first  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  second.  She  was  evidently  disturbed  as  to  the 
condition  of  one  of  them,  at  least,  for  she  added  that  she  would 
prefer  to  have  the  amount  of  the  scholarship  in  money,  "be- 
cause if  there  are  characters  whom  public  education  improves, 
there  are  others  whom  it  develops  too  rapidly  before  their 
judgment  has  been  cultivated. "  ' 

The  second  son,  Silvain,  seems  to  have  had  something  of  his 
father's  restlessness  and  independence,  and  his  manifestations 
of  the  latter  were  not  always  well  judged.  While  a  pupil  at 
the  Ecole  poly  technique,  it  is  reported  that  he  refused  to  take 

^  Correspondance,  422-24. 

*  Bib.  Nat.,  Papiers  de  Roland,  iii,  fr.  now.  acq.  9534,  f .  892, 

*  Letters  of  Madame  Brissot  to  various  ministers,  noted  in  the  catalogue 
of  the  Collection  Charavay.    See  also  Correspondance,  418,  421,  424-25. 


FAMILY  LIFE  409 

the  oath  to  the  emperor  —  a  refusal  which,  considering  that  he 
was  a  pensionnaire  of  the  government,  was  decidedly  ill-advised 
and  which  naturally  led  to  his  prompt  retirement  from  the 
school.  "All  the  pupils  were  solemnly  convoked  to  take  an 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  emperor,"  wrote  Miss  Helena  Williams, 
who  declares  that  she  relates  this  episode  on  the  authority  of 
the  boy's  grandmother  from  whom  she  heard  it  the  next  day. 
"The  president  called  the  boys  one  by  one.  When  the  turn  of 
the  young  Brissot  came:  '  You  swear,'  said  the  president,  'fidel- 
ity to  the  emperor?'  The  young  man  answered  with  a  firm 
voice,  'No.'  The  president,  as  you  may  well  imagine,  was 
absolutely  taken  back  by  this  brusque  declaration,  and  the 
whole  company  was  stupefied  with  astonishment.  Finally  they 
ventured  to  ask  Brissot  what  was  the  reason  for  his  refusal. 
'I  am  too  young,'  he  answered,  'to  pass  judgment  on  political 
matters;  what  I  know  is  that  my  father  died  on  the  scaffold  for 
the  Republic,  and  I  am  a  republican.'"  ^ 

Whether  on  account  of  this  episode,  or  for  other  reasons,  is 
not  clear,  but  in  1816,  Silvain  went  to  America.^  Here  he  seems 
to  have  met  failure  at  every  turn.  From  the  tone  of  his  letters 
one  cannot  help  but  suspect  that  it  was,  in  part  at  least,  his  own 
fault.  Frangois  Dupont  had  been  struck  by  the  liberty,  the 
democracy,  of  the  new  country.  What  especially  impressed 
Silvain  were  the  crude  manners,  the  lack  of  ceremony,  the 
paucity  of  means  of  amusement.  His  constant  lament  is  his 
lack  of  funds;  he  needs  two  hundred  francs  a  month,  he  has 
only  one  hundred  twenty;  he  has  borrowed  money,  he  hopes 
his  mother  will  pay  it;  can  she  not  send  him  more  soon?  He  is 
giving  French  lessons  as  a  means  of  livelihood,  he  ought  to  be 
studying  English,  but  time  is  lacking  for  it;  there  are  too  many 
French  people  in  New  York,  he  ought  to  get  away  in  order 
to  have  better  opportunities  for  acquiring  English,  but,  as  he 
already  owes  money  at  his  boarding-house,  he  cannot  leave. 

^  Helena  Williams,  Sovvenirs,  23-24.   She  is  not  always  reliable. 
*  He  was  for  a  time  at  Guadaloupe.   Letters  to  his  mother  and  his  grand- 
mother.  Correspondance,  434-40. 


410  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

These  are  some  of  his  laments  and  must  have  been  trying 
news  for  his  mother  at  home. 

He  did  finally  manage  to  get  down  to  New  Orleans,  where  he 
fell  in  with  relatives  of  his  mother's  family,  who  secured  for  him 
a  place  on  a  Louisiana  plantation.  His  stay  here,  however,  was 
short.  He  complained  that  he  was  shut  off  from  all  that  made 
life  worth  while;  he  wrote  unfortunate  articles  for  the  New 
Orleans  newspapers  which  stirred  up  trouble;  and  finally  he 
quarreled  with  his  employer.  He  then  returned  to  New  York, 
whence  he  wrote  to  his  mother  with  bitter  upbraidings  for  not 
sending  him  money.  His  sad  straits,  though  he  himself  may 
have  been  responsible  for  them,  cannot  fail  to  arouse  sym- 
pathy. He  was  practically  penniless  and  friendless.  He  finally 
secured  a  position  at  Albany  as  a  teacher  of  mathematics  and 
French  in  a  school  there,  but  the  school  was  a  poor  affair,  his 
room  was  cold  and  cheerless,  and  he  could  not  collect  his  salary. 
In  this  desperate  situation  he  fell  ill  and  died  on  March  16, 
1819.^  The  eldest  son,  who  had  sought  a  career  in  the  marine, 
died  in  Santo  Domingo;  while  the  youngest  son,  Anacharsis, 
the  only  one  who  was  anything  of  a  success,  became  a  farmer 
in  the  Department  of  the  Yonne.^ 

No  one  of  her  three  children  was  apparently  of  any  help  to 
Madame  Brissot.  They  all  were,  on  the  other  hand,  a  source 
of  care  and  anxiety.  Silvain  especially,  with  his  only  too  evi- 
dent failures  and  his  constant  and  petulant  demands  for  money, 
occasioned  his  family  much  distress.    Finally,  worn  out  with 

*  Letters  of  Silvain  Brissot,  Correspondance,  434-44.  The  notice  of  his 
death  was  sent  to  Madame  Aublay  (Nancy  Dupont)  by  Miers  Fisher.  Ibid., 
444. 

*  Nauroy,  Curieux,  no.  29,  May,  1886.  "Le  troisiSmefils  de  Brissot,  Jacques 
JSrome  Anacharsis,  naquit  d,  Paris  le  31  mars,  1791;  il  parait  avoir  aimS  les 
voyages,  je  le  trouve  officier  de  kussards  sous  V empire,  proprietaire  au  hameau  du 
Val  Saint-Eiienne,  commune  de  Veron  (Yonne)  en  1818,  marchand  de  vins  en 
gros  A  Paris,  chaussee  de  Menilmontant,  no.  57,  en  1827,  controleur  general  de  la 
navigation  de  la  Seine  avant  185^,  demeurant  d  Corbeil  {Seine-et-Oise)  en  185Jt; 
tout  cela  ne  Va  pas  empechi  d'Scrire  les  ouvrages  cites  dans  V Intermediaire, 
XVIII,  p.  436.  (For  another  record  of  his  activities,  see  Correspondance,  431- 
33.) 


FAMILY  LIFE  411 

her  anxieties  and  disappointments,  she  died  on  January  4, 
1818,  one  year  before  Silvain,  and  was  buried  at  Pere  Lachaise, 
at  the  expense  of  her  sister  Nancy,  now  Madame  Aublay.^  She 
died  as  much  a  victim  of  the  Revolution  as  though  she  had 
met  death  on  the  scaffold,  and  her  life  was  one  of  its  unseen 
and  unnoticed  tragedies. 

1  See  article  by  M,  Perroud  referred  to  above. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

brissot's  general  policy  and  character 

In  summing  up  Brissot's  part  in  the  French  Revolution,  the 
questions  naturally  arise:  What  were  his  general  principles? 
What  was  his  relation  to  the  Girondins  as  a  party?  How  far 
was  he  a  typical  Girondin? 

The  long-accepted  view  of  the  policy  of  the  Girondins  has, 
within  the  last  few  years,  been  shown  to  be  mere  tradition  and 
legend.  They  were  reputed  to  be  federalists,  royalists,  aristo- 
crats, but  opponents  of  bloodshed  and  advocates  of  mercy. 
Recent  investigation  has  made  evident  on  the  contrary  that 
they  were  republican  in  policy,  democratic  in  spirit,  and  quite 
as  sanguinary  as  the  Mountain;  and  if  it  has  not  been  proved 
that  they  were  not  federalists  in  any  sense  of  the  word,  proof 
is  lacking  that  they  were  federalists  in  the  sense  meant  by  the 
Mountain.^  This  change,  which  has  taken  place  regarding  the 
conception  of  the  party  as  a  whole,  applies  likewise  to  Brissot. 
The  same  ideas  were  imputed  to  him  as  an  individual,  and 
they  are  likewise  disproved. 

He  was  the  friend  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  it  was  asserted,  and 
in  July,  1791,  he  was  working  in  favor  of  the  House  of  Orleans 
and  not  at  all  for  a  republic;  and  when  the  real  republicans 
were  forced  to  flee,  he  walked  the  streets  of  Paris  unmolested. 
Further,  he  was  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Lafayette  and  con- 
tinued to  be  even  after  Lafayette  began  to  show  his  royalist 
sympathies.  He  delayed  the  establishment  of  the  Republic  for 
the  sake  of  keeping  his  friends  in  oflBce,  tried  to  stop  the  in- 
surrection of  August  10  and  attempted  to  betray  France  to 
the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  When  once  the  Republic  was  pro- 
claimed, he  worked  as  hard  to  overthrow  it  as  he  had  to  pre- 
vent its  establishment.  He  deliberately  brought  on  foreign  war 
^  Aulard,  Histoire  •politique,  395,  402. 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND  CHARACTER       413 

when  he  knew  the  country  was  not  ready  for  it;  tried  to  save 
the  king  by  an  appeal  to  the  people;  and  was  hand  and  glove 
with  the  traitor  Dumouriez.  Finally,  from  the  very  beginning 
of  the  Revolution  he  used  his  influence  in  colonial  affairs  with 
the  one  purpose  of  stirring  up  the  colonies  to  revolt. 

These  were  the  charges.  As  to  their  justification:  in  regard 
to  several  charges  it  must  be  admitted  that  Brissot's  defense 
was  rather  weak;  for  instance,  his  freedom  from  arrest  in  the 
reaction  which  immediately  followed  the  flight  to  Varennes  is 
not  explained,  and  he  certainly  showed  his  approval  of  La- 
fayette, up  to  the  very  eve  of  the  massacre  of  July  17.  But 
concerning  the  real  substance  of  the  charge  that  he  was  an 
Orleanist,  or  that  he  did  not  want  a  republic  at  all,  there  is  no 
proof.  On  his  own  admission  he  did  delay  the  establishment  of 
a  republic  in  the  summer  of  1791,  but  only  because  he  did  not 
think  the  time  ripe  for  it,  and  even  in  July,  1792,  he  feared 
that  the  revolt  might  be  premature.  The  claim  that  his  hesita- 
tion was  due  only  to  expediency  is  borne  out  by  his  writings. 
Ever  since  his  jomTiey  to  the  United  States  he  had  not  ceased 
to  laud  the  glories  of  a  republic.  And  in  the  face  of  his  repeated 
assertion  that  a  republic  was  an  ideal  form  of  government,  to 
assert  that  he  was  opposed  to  a  republic,  per  se,  is  in  itself  an 
absurdity.  He  certainly  did  everything  in  his  power,  by  his 
attack  on  royalty  and  on  the  ministry,  to  render  the  position 
of  the  monarch  untenable,  and  to  bring  monarchy  to  its  down- 
fall. All  claim  that  he  tried  to  overthrow  the  Republic  after  it 
was  once  established  is  equally  without  ground.  On  one  point, 
indeed,  he  failed  to  clear  himself,  for,  in  spite  of  his  efforts  to 
disprove  all  connection  with  Dumouriez,  Brissot's  correspond- 
ence and  the  support  which  he  gave  Dumouriez  in  his  paper 
seemed  to  indicate  cordial  relations  up  to  the  last.  But  of  any 
traitorous  designs  of  his  own  toward  the  Republic  there  is  not 
a  shred  of  reliable  evidence. 

A  second  misapprehension  concerning  the  Girondins  is  that 
they  regarded  with  horror  the  shedding  of  blood.  Their  ene- 
mies, however,  did  not  hold  any  such  views  regarding  them, 


414  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

and  at  the  trial  of  the  Girondins,  they  attempted  to  fasten  upon 
Brissot  in  particular  approval  of  the  massacres  of  September. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  in  this  case  they  succeeded  fairly 
well.  In  answer  to  the  accusations  Brissot  declared  that  he  had 
never  ceased  to  denounce  the  massacres.  But  the  point  was, 
when  did  he  begin?  He  asserted,  it  is  true,  that  he  had  begged 
and  prayed  and  implored  Danton  to  put  a  stop  to  the  massa- 
cres, but  apparently  he  did  not  mention  this  appeal  till  the 
summer  of  1793.  At  all  events,  his  references  at  the  time  to 
the  massacres  show  no  particular  horror.  Far  from  denouncing 
them,  he  echoed  Roland's  mild  remark:  "Yesterday  [Roland 
is  speaking  of  September  3]  was  a  day  over  the  events  of  which 
it  is  perhaps  necessary  to  draw  a  veil."  ^  It  is  to  be  remembered 
however,  that  the  Girondins  were  then  in  danger  themselves, 
and  it  would  have  required  extreme  courage  to  make  any  pro- 
test. Brissot's  general  attitude  at  this  period,  however,  if  it 
may  be  judged  by  the  action  of  the  Committee  of  Twenty-one, 
of  which  he  was  president,  and  in  which  it  must  be  supposed 
he  had  some  influence,  was  not  one  of  clemency.  For  under  the 
direction  of  that  committee  drafts  of  laws  were  presented  sup- 
pressing the  right  of  appeal,  ordering  arrests,  and  extending 
the  pimishment  of  death.  Further,  although  Brissot  with  the 
other  Girondins  was  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  men  who  afterward 
directed  the  government  of  the  Terror  with  all  its  horrors  of 
bloodshed,  it  must  be  remembered  that  he  did  not  shrink  from 
that  foreign  war  which  in  large  part  made  the  Terror  necessary; 
but  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  he  who  was  largely  responsi- 
ble for  it. 

As  for  Brissot's  connection  with  federalism,  it  has  already 
been  shown  that,  although  he  was  strongly  inclined  to  federal- 
ism in  theory,  proof  is  lapking  that  he  tried  to  put  federalism 
into  practice  or  to  break  up  the  unity  and  indivisibility  of  the 
Republic. 

Finally,  it  was  charged  that  the  Girondins  were  undemo- 
cratic; that  they  held  themselves  apart  from  the  multitude; 
1  Patriote  FrariQais,  September  5,  1792. 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND  CHARACTER       415 

that  they  were  the  aristocrats  of  the  Revolution;  or,  as  ex- 
pressed by  some  modern  sociaHsts,  that  they  were  the  very 
personification  of  the  bourgeois  element  in  bitter  hostility  to 
the  proletariat.^  A  special  charge  was  brought  against  Brissot 
in  this  connection,  that  he  was  an  enemy  of  popular  societies. 
On  one  occasion,  it  is  true,  he  had  written  that  people  needed 
to  be  on  their  guard,  that  clubs,  like  old  tools,  became  blunt 
and  rusty.  But  this  remark  was  inspired  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  just  then  assailing  the  monarchical  club,  not  because  it 
was  a  club,  but  because  it  was  monarchical.  Indeed,  he  was 
careful  to  add  that  clubs  should  be  checked  only  when  they 
were  bad;  when  they  were  good  they  should  be  fostered,  for 
they  performed  a  most  useful  function  in  helping  to  create 
public  opinion  and  in  keeping  watch  over  public  functionaries. 
It  was  precisely  from  public  officials  who  objected  to  this  in- 
convenient censorship,  he  declared,  that  much  of  the  criticism 
of  the  clubs  emanated. 

The  accusation  of  opposition  in  general  to  democracy  is  like- 
wise without  foundation.  Indeed,  in  summing  up  Brissot's  part 
in  the  French  Revolution,  the  one  word  which  best  character- 
izes his  policy  is  democratic.  From  his  earliest  days  he  was  the 
antagonist  of  arbitrary  and  despotic  government  in  all  its 
forms,  and  the  upholder  of  the  rights  of  man.  A  declaration  of 
these  rights,  he  maintained,  when  that  subject  was  discussed, 
was  as  necessary  to  a  constitution  as  was  a  foundation  to  a 
house.  It  was  in  no  sense,  he  added,  with  emphasis,  a  granting 
of  rights,  —  no  power  on  earth  could  do  that,  —  but  merely 
a  statement  of  what  inevitably  existed.  In  the  interpretation 
of  these  rights  he  stood  for  the  most  thoroughgoing  equality. 
No  titles  of  nobility;  participation  by  every  one  in  municipal 
government;  no  distinction  between  active  and  passive  citi- 
zens ;  population  the  sole  basis  of  representation  ;  a  direct 
method  of  election  for  members  of  the  legislative  body;  no 
life  tenures  for  judges;  admission  of  women  and  of  passive  as 
well  as  active  citizens  to  popular  societies;  the  abolition  of 
1  Kropotkin,  La  Grande  Revolution,  457. 


416  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

primogeniture,  no  social  forms  to  indicate  distinctions  between 
classes;  and  finally,  the  immediate  extension  of  the  principles 
of  the  Revolution  to  the  colonies,  at  least  to  the  extent  of  rec- 
ognizing the  civil  rights  of  the  mulattoes,  and  the  ultimate 
abolition  of  slavery:  these  were  some  of  the  measures  which, 
as  has  been  seen,  he  regarded  as  imperative  if  there  were  to  be 
anything  like  real  equality. 

But  Brissot  was  the  champion  not  only  of  "the  people,"  as  a 
whole,  but  of  the  poor  especially.  While  he  held  certain  ab- 
stract theories  of  socialistic  tendency,  in  practical  politics  he 
was  certainly  not  a  socialist  in  the  present  use  of  the  term.  He 
was  emphatically  opposed  to  state  control  in  economic  matters 
and  vehemently  protested  against  the  suspicion  of  cherishing 
a  desire  to  attack  property.^  Yet  at  the  same  time  he  was  in 
favor  of  various  measures  which  might  be  said  to  be  socialistic 
in  character,  tending  to  the  advantage  of  the  poor  and  to 
minimizing  the  differences  of  opportunity  between  rich  and 
poor,  as,  for  instance,  the  issuing  of  small  assignats,  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  octrois,  the  prohibition  of  bequests  in  the  collat- 
eral line,  and  the  exemption  from  taxation  of  the  necessities 
for  physical  life. 

Liberty,  too,  as  well  as  democracy,  was  to  be  extended  as 
rapidly  and  as  thoroughly  as  possible.  In  economic  questions 
he  stood  for  liberty  by  upholding  freedom  of  trade.  Liberty  of 
the  press  he  not  only  claimed  as  an  abstract  right,  but  also 
took  the  lead  in  seizing  it  for  himself  by  establishing  the  Pa- 
triate Franqais  in  defiance  of  a  rigorous  censorship.  He  was  also 
the  ardent  champion  of  those  hitherto  despised  classes  whose 
liberty  had  been  so  greatly  restricted,  —  Jews,  Protestants, 
and  actors. 

In  order  that  these  rights  might  be  preserved  he  maintained 
further  the  necessity  of  the  fullest  extension  of  the  sovereignty 

1  It  is  largely  because  of  his  support  of  the  right  of  property  that  he  is  as- 
sailed by  such  writers  as  Kropotkin.  See  La  Grande  Revolution,  457.  "  II  faut 
lire  Brissot  pour  comprendre  tout  ce  que  prSparaient  les  bourgeois  alors  pour  la 
France,  et  ce  que  les  Brissotins  du  vingtieme  siecle  prSparent  encore  partout  oH  une 
revolution  va  eclater." 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND  CHARACTER       417 

of  the  people.  It  was  for  this  end  that  he  stood  for  the  limita- 
tion of  the  king's  power  by  a  suspensive  instead  of  an  abso- 
lute veto,  by  checking  his  authority  in  declarations  of  peace  and 
war,  by  prohibiting  his  choice  of  a  ministry  from  the  legisla- 
tive body,  and  then  by  making  the  ministry  which  he  did  choose 
responsible  to  that  body.  Further,  in  order  that  the  will  of  the 
people  might  be  carried  out  more  promptly,  he  would  have  but 
one  chamber  instead  of  two;  he  would  give  the  suffrage  to  all; 
and  he  would  not  put  a  new  constitution  into  effect  till  it 
should  have  been  submitted  to  the  people.  He  was  in  fact  but 
too  ready  to  regard  the  voice  of  the  people  as  the  voice  of  God, 
even  when  it  was  raised  in  violation  of  constituted  authority 
and  international  agreements,  as  in  the  case  of  the  annexation 
of  Avignon.  Even  the  risings  of  the  mob  —  "popular  move- 
ments" in  his  euphemistic  phrase,  "were  to  be  expected  and 
desired  among  a  people  who  are  not  yet  freed,  especially 
among  a  people  a  large  share  of  whom  are  excluded  from 
making  of  the  laws." 

The  rights  which  he  was  working  to  secure  in  these  various 
ways  he  would  not  limit  to  France,  but  would  extend  to  all 
mankind.  His  patriotism  was  not  French,  it  was  cosmopolitan. 
To  spread  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolution  among  the 
oppressed  everywhere  was  a  good  reason,  it  seemed  to  him,  for 
making  war  on  despotic  governments.  As  M.  Aulard  says: 
"He  was  not  an  exclusive  patriot;  the  Revolution,  in  his  view, 
ought  to  be  made  for  the  profit  of  all  oppressed  nations,  of  all 
humanity  whatever  its  race;  for  the  profit  of  the  negro  as  well 
as  of  the  white  man.^ "  In  short,  in  spite  of  his  advocacy  of  war, 
it  may  fairly  be  assumed  that  were  he  alive  to-day,  he  would 
find  his  most  congenial  place  among  the  supporters  of  universal 
brotherhood. 

So  far,  then,  Brissot's  policy,  except  that  he  was  rather  more 

cosmopolitan  than  the  rest,  seems  to  be  typically  Girondin,  and 

therefore,  as  M.  Aulard  has  shown  of  the  party  in  general,  very 

like  the  policy  of  the  Mountain  to  which  it  has  been  thought 

1  Aulard,  Orateurs  de  la  Revolution,  i,  233. 


418  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

to  be  diametrically  opposed.  The  only  real  difference  between 
the  Girondins  and  the  Mountain,  M.  Aulard  maintains,  was 
that  the  Mountain  wanted  Paris  to  have  the  supremacy  over 
the  departments  during  the  war,  and  that  the  Girondins  were 
opposed  to  such  supremacy.  If  this  distinction  be  true,  Brissot 
was  again  a  typical  Girondin,  for,  from  July,  1792,  until  the 
time  of  his  trial,  he  never  ceased  to  attack  what  seemed  to  him 
a  rank  usurpation  of  power  by  the  capital  city. 

But  this  distinction  given  by  M.  Aulard  is  based  only  on  the 
policy  of  the  respective  parties.  M.  Faguet,  in  his  criticism  of 
M.  Aulard,  goes  one  step  further  and  points  out  a  tempera- 
mental difference.^  According  to  M.  Faguet,  the  real  difference 
between  the  Girondins  and  the  Mountain  lay  not  so  much  in 
a  clear-cut  divergence  of  opinion  on  the  political  questions 
of  the  time  as  in  a  fundamental  difference  of  character:  the 
Girondins  were  "men  of  principle,"  and  the  Jacobins  "oppor- 
tunists." In  the  case  of  Brissot  this  is  evidently  true,  at  least  as 
far  as  his  colonial  and  foreign  policies  were  concerned.  His  guid- 
ing principle  in  regard  to  the  colonies  was  that  the  slave  trade 
should  be  abolished  and  rights  of  citizenship  given  to  the 
mulattoes.  To  these  principles  he  persistently  clung,  in  spite 
of  all  warnings  of  the  disasters  to  which  too  precipitate  action 
must  inevitably  lead.  Even  when  the  prophesies  of  the  plant- 
ers were  fulfilled  and  frightful  insurrection  broke  out,  he  would 
not  believe  that  it  was  due  in  any  degree  to  the  extreme  meas- 
ures which  he  himself  had  been  instrumental  in  instituting. 

The  question  of  the  war  was  a  still  more  marked  instance  of 
adherence,  on  the  part  of  Brissot  and  of  the  other  Girondins 
as  well,  to  a  fixed  principle,  in  utter  disregard  of  circumstances. 
Despotism  was  an  evil,  he  argued;  therefore  despotism  must  be 
attacked;  diplomacy  was  an  agency  of  despotism;  therefore  all 
diplomacy  must  be  disregarded.  And  when  the  opponents  of 
these  radical  ideas  suggested  that  before  beginning  the  attack 
on  despotism  it  might  be  well  to  consider  the  resources  for  such 
an  attack,  and  that  in  the  question  of  diplomacy  it  was  worth 
1  Revue  de  Deux  Mondes,  August  15,  1901,  5th  period,  iv,  031-59. 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND  CHARACTER       419 

while,  simply  as  a  matter  of  policy,  not  to  offend  diplomatic 
etiquette,  he  went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  such  ideas  savored 
not  only  of  cowardice  but  of  actual  anti-revolutionary  tend- 
ency. The  suggestion  that  the  circumstances  of  the  case  were 
to  be  considered,  he  scorned  as  a  positively  traitorous  idea. 

The  hypothesis  that  Brissot  and  the  Girondins  were  "men 
of  principle"  does  not,  however,  adequately  account  for  their 
attitude  in  respect  to  the  other  subjects  of  accusation.  What 
principles  can  be  discovered  in  their  uncertain  attitude  toward 
the  dethronement  of  the  king  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Republic,  or  in  their  passive  acquiesence  in  the  massacres  of 
September,  or  in  their  divided  opinion  on  the  trial  of  the  king, 
or  even  in  their  persistent  opposition  to  Paris.'*  The  full  an- 
tithesis to  "men  of  circumstances,"  as  applied  to  the  Moun- 
tain, is  not  "men  of  principle."  Something  more  is  needed  to 
cover  the  whole  case.  It  is  true  that  the  Girondins  were  "men 
of  principle"  in  so  far  as  they  were  idealists,  but  they  did  not 
always  have  ideals,  and  where  they  failed  to  have  ideals  they 
did  not  substitute  a  feasible  policy.  Like  the  Mountain,  they 
were  sometimes  guided  by  circumstances,  but  unlike  the  Moun- 
tain, they  were  not  well  guided.  In  other  words,  they  were 
unpractical. 

In  this  respect  again  Brissot  was  a  typical  Girondin.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  he  was  a  thorough  republican  in  theory;  but 
when  it  came  to  the  crisis  he  failed  to  take  a  decisive  stand, 
and  during  the  critical  fifty  days  from  June  20  to  August  10, 
when  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  became  an  urgent  ques- 
tion, he  did  not  seem  to  know  what  course  to  take.  While 
claiming  to  support  the  monarchy,  he  attacked  the  king  with 
such  violence  as  to  make  the  continuance  of  the  monarchy 
impossible.  Moreover,  at  the  trial  of  the  king  his  idea  appar- 
ently was  to  get  rid  of  responsibility  by  appealing  to  the  people, 
and  in  the  so-called  federalist  movement,  while  he  was  constant 
in  his  hatred  of  Paris,  he  was  unable  to  unite  his  party  in  any 
feasible  scheme  for  joining  the  provinces  against  it. 

In  so  far  he  was  a  typical  Girondin.   How  far  was  he  really 


420  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

the  head  of  the  group?  He  certainly  was  a  leader  of  the  Giron- 
dins  in  the  sense  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  their 
number,  a  person  of  definite  influence  and  position  within  the 
party.  This  opinion  was  universally  held  at  the  time;^  the 
conviction  was  expressed  by  his  enemies  when  they  fastened 
the  term  "Brissotin"  to  one  wing  of  the  party;  the  fact  is  ad- 
mitted in  all  the  writings  of  his  friends;  it  comes  out  in  the  trial; 
it  was  recognized  by  the  Buzot  faction;  and  it  is  apparent  in 
the  ranks  of  impartial  spectators  like  Dumont. 

Just  who  were  included  among  the  Brissotins  it  is  somewhat 
difficult  to  state,  especially  as  the  term  was  variously  used  and 
amid  shifting  political  affiliations :  sometimes  meaning  the  spe- 
cial adherents  of  Brissot  in  his  war  policy;  sometimes  the 
supporters  of  the  Girondin  ministry;  sometimes  the  leaders  in 
the  opposition  to  the  Commune  of  Paris  in  August,  1792;  and 
finally,  after  the  opening  of  the  Convention,  that  faction  of  the 
Gironde  which  was  less  actively  engaged  in  the  federalist  con- 
troversy, in  contrast  with  the  Buzotins  who  led  the  struggle. 
Gensonne,  Guadet,  Claviere,  and  Valaze,  and  for  a  time  Ro- 
land, Condorcet,  and  Vergniaud,  might  perhaps  be  most 
properly  classed  as  Brissotins. 

That  the  Brissotins  kept  together  as  well  as  they  did  was  due 
partly  to  the  fact  that  they  were  accustomed  to  meet  fre- 
quently, in  informal  gatherings  or  clubs,  to  talk  over  their  ideas 
and  to  lay  out  a  plan  of  action  in  the  Assembly  —  according 
to  their  enemies,  to  intrigue,  to  hatch  plots.  Their  first  gather- 
ings were  held  four  times  a  week  at  Madame  Roland's,  where 
it  was  Brissot  who  introduced  the  other  deputies.'^  Number  5 
Place  Vendome,  the  apartment  of  a  woman  named  Odun,^  the 
homes  of  the  banker,  Biderman,^  of  Valaze  ^  and  Buzot,  ^  were 

^  Note,  for  instance,  Les  Revolutions  de  Paris,  November  5,  1792:  "Brissot 
n'est  pas  sans  talents,  sans  merite,  mais  jamais  conception  hardie  ne  sortira  de 
son  cerveau.  .  .  .  Apres  lui,  les  plus  dangereux  de  son  parti  sont  Guadet,  Ver- 
gniaud, GensonnS.  .  .  .  Quels  sont  les  autres?  Buzot,  Barbaroux,  Kersaint,  etc. 
Voila  ce  qu  'on  appelle,  a  bon  droit,  Brissot  et  sa  coterie.'" 

2  MSmoires  de  Madame  Roland,  I,  G3. 

2  Dumont,  Souvenirs,  374.       *  Ibid.,  266.        »  Moniteur,  May  24,  1793. 

«  ThermomUre  du  jour,  n.  526,  June  9,  1793.  That  meetings  were  held  at 
Bozot's  was  denied  by  Madame  Roland.  See  her  MSmoires,  ii,  57. 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND  CHARACTER       421 

places  of  frequent  meeting.  Brissot,  it  was  asserted,  was  most 
assiduous  in  his  attendance,  and  was  the  heart  and  soul  of 
these  gatherings.  WTiile  admitting  that  such  gatherings  took 
place,  Brissot  denied  that  they  were  devoted  to  intrigue  or  that 
he  was  a  frequent  attendant.  That  he  was  the  chief  of  the 
party  he  also  denied.  "I,  chief  of  a  party ! "  he  exclaimed.  " I,  a 
solitary  man,  knowing  scarcely  forty  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly, appearing  rarely  at  the  tribune,  frequenting  neither  clubs, 
nor  sections,  nor  committees!"^  Nor  was  he  generally  ac- 
knowledged as  a  leader  by  the  Girondins  most  closely  asso- 
ciated with  him.  As  one  writer  puts  it,  "Brissot's  authority 
was  neither  avowed  by  himself  nor  recognized  even  by  those 
who,  nevertheless,  did  nothing  without  consulting  him."  It 
remains  true,  however,  that  from  the  autumn  of  1791  to  the 
publication  of  Desmoulins's  Histoire  des  Brissotins,  the  term 
"Brissotin"  was  freely  and  frequently  used,  with  the  obvious 
implication  of  leadership  and  authority. 

Such  a  position  he  could  not  have  obtained  had  he  not  been 
a  person  of  strong  character.  But  what  his  character  was  is  a 
question  on  which  most  divergent  views  are  held.  He  has  been 
judged  to  be  everything,  from  a  rogue  and  a  scoundrel  to  a 
saint  and  a  martyr.  The  former  opinion  is  that  of  his  most 
violent  opponents  among  the  members  of  the  Mountain.  In 
their  demmciations  he  appears  as  a  man  of  great  subtlety,  a 
political  intriguer,  constantly  scheming  for  his  own  benefit,  and 
utterly  careless  of  the  means  by  which  he  obtained  his  end.^ 
A  more  impartial  view  is  that  of  Dumont,  but  even  he  agrees 
with  the  Mountain  in  considering  Brissot  an  intriguer.  Du- 
mont's  judgment  is  all  the  more  valuable  because  he  had  orig- 
inally a  high  opinion  of  Brissot,  an  opinion  which  he  main- 
tained till  the  Delessart  episode.  "From  that  time,"  he  writes, 
"Brissot  fell  in  my  estimation.  I  did  not  come  to  a  rupture 
with  him,  but  my  friendship  weakened  with  my  esteem.  I  had 

1  Patriate  Frangais,  April  20,  1793. 

^  For  a  consideration  of  Brissot's  character  see  Aulard,  Bistoire  politique, 
405. 


422  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

formerly  known  him  candid  and  generous;  he  was  now  insidi- 
ous and  persecuting.  If  he  had  any  qualms  of  conscience  —  for 
Brissot  was  both  a  moral  and  a  religious  man  —  they  were  al- 
layed by  the  pretended  necessity  of  saving  the  state.  It  is  in 
times  of  political  faction  that  we  see  illustrations  of  the  correct- 
ness of  the  ideas  of  Helvetius  upon  what  constitutes  virtue. 
Brissot  was  faithful  to  his  party,  but  a  traitor  to  integrity."^ 
"Brissot  was  one  of  those  men,"  Dumont  says  on  another  oc- 
casion, "in  whom  party  spirit  prevailed  over  right  and  justice; 
or  rather,  he  confined  right  and  justice  to  his  own  party.  He 
had  more  of  the  zeal  of  the  monk  than  any  man  I  ever  knew. 
Had  he  been  a  Capuchin  he  would  have  doted  upon  his  staff 
and  his  vermin  —  a  Dominican,  he  would  have  burned  heretics 
—  a  Roman,  he  would  have  proved  not  unworthy  of  Cato  and 
Regulus.  But  he  was  a  French  republican,  who  had  deter- 
mined to  overthrow  the  monarchy;  and  to  accomplish  this 
object  he  hesitated  not  to  calumniate,  to  persecute,  and  to  per- 
ish himself  upon  the  scaffold."  ^ 

M.  Aulard,  on  the  other  hand,  calls  attention  to  an  opinion 
held  even  by  some  men  of  the  Mountain  —  to  the  effect  that 
Brissot  was  lacking  in  partisanship.  Cloots,  for  example,  in  his 
pamphlet,  Ni  Marat  ni  Roland,  said  that  as  for  Brissot  he  never 
knew  a  man  less  brissotin  than  he.  And  when  Danton  wanted 
to  annoy  Brissot  he  would  say:  "Brissot,  you  are  a  brissotin."  ' 
Buzot  bears  like  testimony.  "He  was,"  says  Buzot,  "so  little 
adapted  by  nature  to  intrigue  that  the  mere  suggestion  of  dis- 
simulation or  anything  underhand  was  a  punishment  to  him. 
We  used  to  make  fun  sometimes  of  his  simplicity,  of  his  good 
nature,  and  we  would  say  in  fun:  'Of  all  possible  Brissotins  he 
is  the  least  brissotin.'"  ^  According  to  Girey-Dupre,  he  hved 
like  Aristides  and  died  like  Sidney.^  Clarkson  says  of  him: 
"Brissot  was  a  man  of  plain  and  modest  appearance.    His 

1  Dumont.  Souvenirs,  380.  The  translation  is  that  of  the  Recollections,  312. 

*  Ibid.,  357;  Recollections,  295. 

»  Aulard.  Histoire  politique,  405.  *  Buzot,  MSmoires,  16. 

<*  Brissot,  Memoires,  ed.  by  Montrol;  Preface,  ill. 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND  CHARACTER        423 

habits,  contrary  to  those  of  his  countrymen  in  general,  were 
domestic.  Li  his  family  he  set  an  amiable  example,  both  as  a 
husband  and  as  a  father.  On  all  occasions  he  was  a  faithful 
friend.  He  was  particularly  watchful  over  his  private  conduct. 
From  the  simplicity  of  his  appearance  and  the  severity  of  his 
morals,  he  was  called  'The  Quaker';  at  least  in  the  circles  which 
he  frequented.  He  was  a  man  of  deep  feeling.  He  was  chari- 
table to  the  poor,  as  far  as  his  slender  income  permitted  him. 
But  his  benevolence  went  beyond  the  usual  bounds.  He  was 
no  patriot  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  word;  for  he  took 
the  habitable  globe  as  his  country  and  wished  to  consider  every 
foreigner  as  his  brother."  ^  Madame  Roland  testifies  to  the 
same  effect.  "Brissot's  simple  manner,"  she  says,  "his  frank- 
ness, his  natural  ease  seemed  to  me  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  austerity  of  his  principles.  .  .  .  He  is  the  best  of  men,  a  good 
husband,  a  tender  father,  a  faithful  friend,  a  virtuous  citizen."^ 
Madame  Roland  might  have  added  that  he  did  not  suffer 
from  too  lowly  an  appreciation  of  his  own  virtues.  But  if  his 
writings  betray  a  decided  tendency  to  self-glorification,  they 
have  at  the  same  time  every  mark  of  simplicity  and  earnest- 
ness, and  tend  to  bear  out  the  opinion  of  Brissot's  friends  rather 
than  that  of  his  enemies.  His  actions,  however,  are  not  quite  so 
consistent  with  disingenuousness  and  perfect  uprightness.  For 
instance,  he  was  ready  to  use  in  the  cause  of  the  Revolution 
the  same  despotic  means  which  he  had  attacked  as  among  the 
greatest  evils  of  the  old  regime,  and  his  conduct  toward  De- 
lessart  is  not  above  question.  But  that  he  ever  betrayed  the 
colonies  or  sold  his  vote  or  his  influence,  either  to  the  court  or  to 
any  foreign  power,  though  repeatedly  alleged,  is  absolutely  with- 
out proof.  It  is  tolerably  certain  that  on  one  occasion,  at  least, 
money  was  offered  him.  "There  are  many  persons  now  living," 
wrote  an  English  contemporary  of  Brissot  in  1798,  "who  know 
that  during  the  spirited  animadversions  of  Brissot  on  the 
cabals  at  court  which  he  denominated  Austrian  Committees,  a 

^  Clarkson,  History  of  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  n,  165-66. 
*  Mimoires,  i,  197. 


424  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

hundred  thousand  Hvres  were  tendered  as  the  price  of  either 
his  silence  or  his  friendship;  and  that,  hving  in  a  garret  into 
which  he  ascended  by  four  flights  of  stairs,  and  having  a  wife 
and  three  children  depending  on  his  stipend  as  deputy  and  the 
trifling  produce  of  his  newspaper,  he  declined  the  offer  without 
noise  or  ostentation."  ^  A  more  striking  evidence  of  Brissot's 
incorruptibility  was  the  Soulavie  episode.  Shortly  after  the 
20th  of  June,  1792,  it  will  be  remembered, ^  Soulavie  was  offered 
eight  hundred  thousand  francs  by  Chambonas,  the  minister  of 
finance,  with  which  to  win  over  Brissot  to  the  side  of  the  court, 
but  declined  to  undertake  the  commission,  as  he  was  sure  that 
it  would  be  utterly  useless.  Brissot  would  repulse  him,  he  de- 
clared, at  the  mere  suggestion.^  This  is  all  the  more  convincing 
because  Soulavie  was  opposed  to  Brissot  politically  and  dis- 
liked him  personally. 

Far  from  amassing  a  fortune,  he  lived  and  died  poor.  He  may 
not  have  been  a  saint,  but  he  certainly  was  not  a  rogue.  The 
truth  lies  between  these  extremes.  He  was  an  enthusiast  —  an 
erring  and  self -deceived  one  sometimes,  but  he  was  not  a  hypo- 
crite. As  Lescure  says  of  him:  "There  was  in  his  life  more  than 
one  error,  more  than  one  fault,  but  there  was  nothing  crimi- 
nal." ' 

The  testimony  of  Brissot's  friends,  however,  is  more  con- 
vincing evidence  of  his  moral  character  than  of  his  fitness  for 
leadership.  According  to  Madame  Roland,  he  was  "confident 
even  to  imprudence,  happy,  naive,  ingenuous  as  a  boy  of  fifteen; 

^  Phillips,  Biographical  Anecdotes,  13.  '  See  p.  287. 

•  Chambonas:  ^'Vous  voyez  done  que  cet  homme  {Brissot)  est  interessL  Ilfaut 
done  que  vous  vous  chargiez  de  le  gagner.  On  ne  demande  pas  qu  'il  quitte  ses  opi- 
nions, mais  simplement  qu'il  suspende  son  plan  de  dechSance.  Nous  avons  d  votre 
disposition  cent  mille  Hvres.  Si  cette  somme  ne  svffit  pas,  offrez  qnatre  cent  mille 
Hvres,  puis  cinq  cents.  Allez  jusqu'd  huit  cents;  mais  ne  pasez  pas,  c'est  la  limite 
de  nos  pouvoirs;  mais  il  faut  qu  'il  adopte  notre  projet  d  'ajournement  de  la  di- 
cheance.  ..."  Soulavie:  "Si  j'avais  quelque  lueur,  quelque  esperance  de  reussir, 
je  me  devouerais  d  votre  commission;  mais  je  dais  rous  dire  qu'une  telle  ouverture 
suffira  pour  que  Brissot  me  repousse."  Soulavie,  Memoires  historiques,  vi, 
429-30. 

*  Brissot,  Memoires,  ed.  by  Lescure;  Preface,  ii. 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND   CHARACTER       425 

he  was  made  to  be  companion  of  wise  men  and  the  dupe  of 
rogues."  He  was  a  good  judge  of  men,  she  adds,  but  he  did 
not  know  men  at  all.^  Brissot's  mother-in-law  evidently  held 
the  same  opinion,  for,  just  as  he  was  starting  for  America,  she 
wrote  warning  him  that  he  would  be  likely  to  meet  men  more 
subtle  than  he,  and  exhorting  him  to  be  on  his  guard. ^ 

Petion  says  of  him  that  he  was  the  embodiment  of  disinter- 
estedness; that  he  allowed  people  to  use  his  ideas  without  giv- 
ing him  any  acknowledgment;  that  his  only  thought  was  to  be 
useful.'  "I  have  known  Brissot  from  his  infancy,"  Petion  de- 
clared on  another  occasion;  "I  have  seen  him  in  those  moments 
when  the  very  soul  shows  itself,  when  a  man  abandons  himself 
without  reserve  to  friendship,  to  confidence;  I  have  knowTi  his 
disinterestedness,  I  have  known  his  principles;  I  protest  to  you 
that  they  are  pure.  Those  who  make  of  him  the  head  of  a  party 
have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  his  character;  he  is  a  man  of 
intelligence  and  learning;  but  he  has  neither  reserve  nor  the 
faculty  of  dissimulation,  neither  the  attractive  personality  nor 
the  spirit  de  suite  which  make  a  party  leader,  and  what  will 
surprise  you  is  that  far  from  leading  others,  he  is  very  easily 
imposed  upon."  ^ 

Phillips,  the  Englishman  referred  to  above,  who  evidently 
wrote  from  a  friendly  point  of  view,  describes  Brissot  as  "a 
votary  of  true  Philosophy  whenever  he  heard  her  voice  or 
clearly  understood  her  principles;  but  those  principles  were  not 
familiar  to  his  mind;  they  were  not  always  of  his  own  acquisi- 
tion; and  the  simplicity  and  integrity  of  his  heart  induced  him 
to  confide  in  others  with  blind  credulity."  ^    In  summing  up 

1  Memoires,  i,  197.  Meilhan  in  his  memoirs  (p.  99),  confirms  this:  "Qui- 
conque  a  connu  Brissot  doit  savoir  que  personne  n'etait  mains  propre  a  former  un 
parti.  C'etait  un  homme  de  cabinet,  studieux,  sedentaire,  d'une  societe  douce  et 
paisible,  mais  depourvu  de  I  'audace  sans  laquelle  on  n  'est  jamais  chef  en  aucun 
genre.  II  avail  meme  une  facilite  de  caract^re  qui  le  plaqait  d,  la  suite  des  autres 
ptutot  qu  'd  leur  tete." 

^  Correspondance,  191.       ^  Notice  sur  Brissot,  in  Yatel.   Vergniaud,  ii,  240. 

*  Discours  de  Jerome  PHion  sur  V accusation  iriienlee  contre  Robespierre,  non 
prononce  mais  imprime  en  novembre,  1792.  Quoted  by  Vatel,  Charlotte  Corday 
et  les  Girondins,  ii,  219,  note. 

^  Phillips,  Biographical  Anecdotes,  ii,  15. 


426  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE 

Brissot's  career,  Phillips  says  again:  "As  a  politician,  his  heart 
was  better  directed  than  his  head  —  he  wanted  knowledge  of 
mankind.  His  reason  was  therefore  misled  by  his  imagination; 
and  his  credulity  and  reliance  on  the  pretensions  of  others  ren- 
dered him  totally  imfit  for  any  important  share  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  national  business."  ^  In  short,  as  Bailleul  ^  says,  he 
was  not  a  man  of  the  world.^ 

Brissot  also  lacked  an  imposing  physical  presence.  He  was 
short  in  stature,  slight  in  frame,  and  stooped  a  little  in  the 
shoulders.  Nor  was  he  blessed  with  ease  of  manner.  He  says 
himself  that  he  was  very  timid,  very  awkward,  especially  when 
he  appeared  for  the  first  time  among  strangers.^  This  stiffness, 
moreover,  was  not  merely  a  question  of  manner;  it  was  indica- 
tive of  one  of  Brissot's  most  dominant  characteristics.  He  did 
not  know  how  to  adapt  himself  to  people,  and  as  a  consequence 
was  always  getting  into  quarrels  and  disputes.^  He  adopted 
fixed  standards  of  morality,  and  with  a  narrow  puritanism  went 
about  applying  them  without  tolerance  and  without  sympathy. 
The  single  word  which  perhaps  best  describes  his  character  is 
rigidity. 

But  if  Brissot  was  not  altogether  fitted  for  leadership,  he  was 
perhaps  more  so  than  the  other  Girondins.  His  prominence 
may  in  fact  partially  be  accounted  for  by  a  process  of  elimina- 
tion. Condorcet  was  not  emotional  enough,  could  make  no 
popular  appeal;  Vergniaud  was  too  indolent,  too  much  of  a 
dreamer;  Buzot  was  too  headstrong;  Gensonne,  too  aloof; 
Guadet  lived  too  much  in  the  present.  Brissot,  on  the  other 
hand,  whatever  his  limitations,  did  possess  certain  qualities 
which  made  for  success  and  leadership.  For  one  thing  he  had 

1  Phillips,  Biographical  Anecdotes,  n,  20. 

2  Jacques  Charles  Bailleul  (bom  1762,  died  1843)  was  a  French  pohtician, 
member  of  the  Convention,  and  an  opponent  of  Robespierre  and  Danton. 
As  a  signer  of  the  protest  against  the  arrest  of  the  Girondins,  he  was  himself 
arrested  and  thrown  into  prison,  but  escaped  execution. 

^  Examen  critique  de  Vouvrage  postkume  de  Madame  de  Stael. 

*  Memoires,  i,  272. 

*  Note  his  quarrels  wath  his  father,  Swinton,  Linguet,  the  father  of  Fanny 
Burney,  Desforges,  Morande,  etc. 


GENERAL  POLICY  AND  CHARACTER       427 

not  only  abounding  faith  in  every  cause  to  which  he  was  de- 
voted, but  also  indefatigable  industry  in  working  for  it  him- 
self, and  in  making  others  work.  While  his  executive  ability 
may  not  have  been  of  the  highest  order,  he  certainly  was 
possessed  of  considerable  skill.  In  short,  the  qualities  which 
he  showed  in  his  early  writings  continued  to  be  his  striking 
characteristics  and  explain  in  large  measure  both  his  success 
and  his  limitations.  His  boundless  ambition,  his  tremendous 
earnestness,  and  his  never-failing  optimism  enabled  him,  in 
spite  of  his  ingenuousness  and  rigidity,  to  inspire  confidence. 
At  the  same  time,  the  defects  of  his  qualities  account  for  his 
failure.  His  tremendous  earnestness  was  accompanied  by  no 
saving  sense  of  humor,  his  ambition  led  him  into  large  plans  of 
which  he  did  not  count  the  cost,  and  his  optimism  did  not  take 
account  of  insurmountable  obstacles.  But  though  he  failed  be- 
cause he  lacked  the  power  to  adapt  himself  to  circumstances, 
to  realize  that  it  was  "not  a  theory  but  a  condition"  by  which 
France  was  confronted,  to  perceive  at  the  supreme  crisis  that 
the  war,  which  he  himseK  had  so  large  a  part  in  bringing  on, 
demanded  immediate  centralization  in  government;  yet  he 
stands  out  among  his  contemporaries  for  his  high  ideals  and  for 
a  passion  for  liberty,  which,  as  Garat  says,  was  with  him  noth- 
ing short  of  a  religion.  "His  eyes,"  to  quote  a  modern  writer, 
"were  fixed  on  the  map  of  Europe,  while  others  saw  only  their 
club  or  their  section."  ^  In  a  word,  while  he  embodies  the 
spirit  of  the  Revolution  in  his  insistence  on  the  liberty  of  the  in- 
dividual and  on  the  rights  of  man,  he  also  foreshadows  the  new 
spirit  of  the  nineteenth  century  —  as  interpreted  by  Mazzini 
in  his  stirring  essay  on  Faith  and  the  Future  —  in  his  belief  in  a 
larger  brotherhood  and  in  his  faith  in  liberty,  not  for  the  indi- 
vidual alone,  but  for  humanity. 

^  Aulard,  Orateurs  de  la  Revolution,  i,  224. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  A 

LETTERS  BY  AND  TO  BRISSOT 

Letter  of  Brissot  to  Jefferson 
(Jefferson  Papers,  1st  series,  vol.  i2,  Library  of  Gjngress.  Copy.) 

Chancellerie  d'Orleans 
ce  3  Janvier,  1787. 
Monsieur 

J  'ai  I'honneur  de  vous  adresser  ci-joint  les  questions  sur  les  f onds 
publics  des  Etats-Unis,  dont  je  vous  ai  parle.  Vous  m'avez  fait  esperer 
ainsi  que  M.  de  Crevecoeur,  que  vous  pourriez  en  vous  adressant  au 
treasury  hoard  du  Congres,  nous  procurer  une  reponse  complete  & 
exacte  sur  tous  les  points. 

Cette  reponse  est  singulierement  importante  pour  fonder  le  credit 
des  Etats-Unis  &  je  ne  doute  point  que  mon  digne  ami  Claviere  avec 
son  ami  d 'Amsterdam  ne  parviennent  a  leur  etablir  un  grand  credit 
quand  une  fois  ils  auront  des  lumieres  suffisantes  sur  leur  situation. 
Vous  voudrez  done  bien,  Monsieur,  mettre  ces  questions  au  nombre 
de  vos  depeches  prochaines  &  me  faire  parvenir  ou  a  M.  Claviere  la 
reponse  aussitot  qu  'elle  sera  dans  vos  mains. 

(Signed)  Brissot  de  Warville. 

Questions  sur  les  f onds  publics  des  Etats-Unis. 

On  suppose  que  le  Congres  des  Etats-Unis  d  'Amerique  met  quel- 
qu'  importance  a  leur  etablir  un  bon  credit  en  Europe.  lis  ne  peuvent 
y  trouver  que  de  grands  avantages.  La  grande  affaire  des  Americains 
est  sans  contredit  es  defrichements  &  ces  defrichements  demandent 
toujours  plus  de  numeraire  parcequ'ils  le  repandent  sur  une  plus 
grande  etendue  de  pays.  II  sera  done  avantageux  aux  Americains  de 
donner  a  leur  papiers  un  tel  credit  qu  'il  puisse  se  placer  dans  les  Etats 
de  1 'Europe  ou  I'argent  est  tres  abondant  &  dans  ceux  oii  le  com- 
merce peut  les  admettre;  car  ces  papiers  pourroient  venir  chercher 
I'argent  Europeen  de  plusieurs  manieres,  soit,  directement  &  par 
voye  d'emprunt,  soit  indirectement  &  en  retour  de  fournitures 
Europeennes  lorsque  les  productions  Americaines  ne  suffiroient  pas 
au  moment  meme  pour  les  payer.  La  constitution  republicaine  est  de 


432  APPENDIX 

toutes  celle  qui  favorise  le  mieux  un  credit  public;  &  sous  ce  point 
de  vue  les  Etats-Unis  ont  droit  au  credit  le  plus  etendu  puisqu'ii 
s  'appuie  sur  un  sol  immense,  fertilise  par  la  liberte. 

Mais  dans  ce  moment  soit  par  la  malice  de  leurs  ennemis,  soit  par 
les  difficultes  qui  s'elevent  entre  eux  sur  leurs  dettes  et  leurs  regu- 
lations interieures  on  ne  pent  pas  encore  faire  naitre  en  Europe,  en 
faveur  des  Americains  une  confiance  generale;  une  infinite  de  faits, 
vrais  ou  faux  ou  mal  representes,  donnent  des  ombrages  perpetuels; 
&  font  croire  a  beaucoup  de  gens  que  les  Americains  eux-memes  ne 
sont  pas  encore  persuades  de  1  'importance  de  leux  credit  au  dehors, 
on  ne  connoissent  pas  toute  I'etendue  des  egards  dtis  au  maximes  qui 
fondent  &  maintiennent  le  credit  public. 

II  seroit  done  tres  necessaire  d' avoir  tant  de  la  part  du  Congres 
que  de  la  Chambre  de  la  tresorie,  toutes  les  instructions  necessaires 
pour  se  former  des  idees  justes  sur  I'etat  present  des  dettes  Ameri- 
caines  interieures  et  exteri cures;  sur  la  maniere  dont  elles  sont  con- 
siderees  en  general  &  en  particulier,  par  la  reunion  des  Etats  &  par 
chacun  d'eux  individuellement  &  pour  juger  s'il  y  a  des  dettes  dont 
le  remboursement  soit  considere  sous  des  degres  differens  de  certitude. 

Les  fonds  [stocks]  Americains  se  devisent  en  effets  continentaux  & 
effets  particuliers  a  chaque  etat.  On  desire  sur  les  premiers  d 'avoir 
leur  liste,  leur  origine,  la  capitale,  la  forme,  le  terme  de  rembourse- 
ment s'il  y  en  a  —  par  qu'il  est  paye  —  quand,  comment,  ou  quels 
sontceux  qui  ont  cours  dans  le  commerce?  s'il  y  a  qui  soient  regus 
aux  pay  em  en  ts  des  taxes  ou  qui  servent  a  ce  payement?  Est-il  du 
des  arrerages  &  en  quelle  quantite?  sur  quel  objet  chaque  emprunt  ou 
fond  continental  est-il  hypotheque? 

Les  memes  questions  sont  a  repondre  sur  les  fonds  particuliers  a 
chaque  etat  &  s  'il  y  en  a  de  ceux-ci  qui  soient  regus  dans  tous  les  etats, 
on  desire  d'en  avoir  la  liste;  comme  aussi  de  connoitre  ceux  qui  n'y 
sont  pas  regus  &  quelle  en  est  la  raison?  On  desireroit  aussi  d'avoir  la 
liste  des  prix  aux  quels  tous  les  diff erents  effets  Americains  se  negocient 
actuellement  &  la  distinction  de  ceux  dont  le  rembours  prochain  est 
le  plus  probable. 

Enfin  cette  question  regarde  plus  particulierement  le  Congres. 

On  demande  quel  interet  le  Congres  accorderoit  a  des  particuliers 
qui  lui  preteroient  de  I'argent  a  la  condition  de  ne'n  pouvoir  etre 
rembourse  qu'en  fonds  de  terres  appartenantes  au  Congres  &  dans  le 
cours  d'un  certain  nombre  d'annees,  que  le  Congres  designeroit  &  qui 
ne  devroit  pas  etre  trop  court. 

Si  de  pareils  emprunts  pouvoient  avoir  lieu  ils  exigeroient  la  deter- 
mination d'une  certaine  etendue  de  terres  avantageusement  situees 
pour  le  commerce  &  la  culture,   lesquelles  seroient  reservees  pour 


APPENDIX  433 

acquitter  ces  emprunts,  en  determinant  d'avance  la  maniere  dont 
les  porteurs  de  ces  effets  pourroient  en  prendre  possession. 

Si  une  telle  idee  pent  s  'appliquer  a  un  plan  quelconque,  d  'une  exe- 
cution sure,  et  facile  &  qu'il  soit  possible  de  lui  donner  une  forme 
seduisante  pour  ceux  qui  cherclient  a  varier  d'emploie  de  leur  argent, 
il  ne  seroit  pas  impossible  que  cette  maniere  d'emprunter  ne  reussit 
en  Europe  surtout  si  le  produit  de  tels  emprunts  servoient  a  acquitter 
des  parties  de  dettes  etrangeres,  parce  qu'alors  ils  donneroient  lieu  a 
des  traites  entre  des  particuliers  &  les  etats  memes  a  qui  le  Congres  a 
des  avances  a  rembourser. 

Mais  il  faudroit  que  les  plans  de  tels  emprunts  arrivassent  en  Eu- 
rope avec  des  pleins  pouvoirs  aux  ambassadeurs  du  Congres  de  traiter 
&  meme  de  pouvoir  admettre  certaines  modifications  &  y  engager  le 
Congres  s  'ils  s  'en  presentoient  de  convenables  aux  preteurs  sans  etre 
nuisibles  aux  interets  des  Etats-Unis. 

Daniel  Parker  to  Andrew  Craigie 
(Craigie  Papers,  ui.  111.  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  Mass.) 

Havbe  de  Grace,  June  2,  1788. 
My  dear  Sir: 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  the  present  opportunity  of  introducing 
to  your  acquaintance  Mons''  Brissot  de  Warville,  a  French  gentleman 
of  the  most  respectable  character  and  connections,  his  views  in  going 
to  America  are  principally  to  obtain  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  funds 
and  the  land  in  the  western  Territory.  The  representations  that  he 
will  make  to  his  friends  in  Europe  will  determine  them  respecting 
the  purchase  of  the  Funds,  —  as  he  is  a  literary  man  and  his  pursuits 
having  been  confined  to  that  line,  he  will  pass  unsuspected  in  America 
of  having  any  design  to  buy  the  Funds.  He  will  communicate  with 
you  freely  on  the  subject,  if  he  should  recommend  them  to  his  con- 
nections they  will  make  large  purchases,  all  of  which  he  proposes  to 
confine  entirely  to  you  and  Col.  Duer.  He  is  a  gentleman  that  merits 
all  confidence  that  you  will  give  him  all  the  information  in  your 
power  [sic].  I  shall  leave  it  with  you  to  settle  with  him  such  terms  as 
you  may  think,  proper,  my  great  object  has  been  to  prevent  a  com- 
petition in  the  purchases.  I  have  no  doubt  but  I  shall  soon  form  an 
arrangement  with  M.  de  Warville's  friend  here  for  a  large  purchase  of 
those  funds  in  which  you  will  be  interested  so  that  we  shall  be  all 
united  in  one  general  interest.  You  will  find  M.  de  Warville  to  possess 
true  republican  sentiments  and  great  knowledge  in  the  aflfairs  in 
Europe,  of  France  in  particular. 


434  APPENDIX 

I  must  pray  you  to  give  him  all  the  attention  and  assistance  in  your 
power  and  to  make  acquainted  [sic]  with  all  your  friends  in  congress. 
I  am  most  faithfully  your  friend  and  ser't, 

(Signed)  Dan.  Parker. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Daniel  Parker 
(Craigie  Papers,  i,  27.  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  Mass.  Copy.) 

New  York,  Dec.  3,  1788. 
Mt  dear  friend: 

This  will  be  handed  to  you  by  our  friend  M.  de  Warville  who  will 
make  it  his  first  business  to  see  you  on  his  arrival  to  communicate  the 
arrangements  that  have  been  made  with  him.  Since  my  acquaintance 
with  this  Gentleman  I  have  had  such  proofs  of  his  amiable  disposition 
and  candor  that  I  feel  the  most  perfect  confidence  in  his  character. 
He  has  formed  the  best  connections  in  this  country,  and  is  highly 
respected  by  our  first  Characters,  and  as  he  has  acquired  great 
knowledge  of  affairs  here  you  will  receive  from  him  much  useful 
information. 

I  hope  and  believe  you  will  receive  full  satisfaction  from  the  ex- 
planations M.  de  Warville  will  give  and  with  the  power  from  Col.  D. 
and  myself  you  will  be  able  to  settle  the  arrangement  to  your  mind. 

I  am  yours, 

(Signed)  A.  Craigie. 

Brissot  de  Warville  to  Colonel  William  Duer 

(Scioto  Papers.    New  York  Historical  Society,  New  York  City.    Written  in 

English.) 

Falmouth,  Jan.  15,  1789. 
Dear  Colonel: 

We  are  arrived  here  after  a  long,  tedious,  and  stormy  passage  of  41 
days.  I  thought  I  could  fly  immediately  to  London,  but  the  road  is  ob- 
structed by  the  vast  quantity  of  snow  so  I  am  obliged  to  stay  one  day 
more  here.  Arriving  here  we  have  been  told  very  strange  news  which 
shall  certainly  have  a  great  influence  over  this  world  and  bring  some 
revolution.  The  insanity  of  the  king  of  Great  Brit.,  the  death  of 
Spain's,  the  declining  authority  of  his  cousin's  of  France,  I  believe 
that  all  these  circumstances  will  pave  the  way  to  the  prosperity  of  my 
good  friend  the  American.  Clouds  are  gathering  here:  they  are  or 
they  shall  be,  at  least,  if  you  are  wise,  quickly  over  in  your  continent. 
Nothing  is  yet  determined  about  the  restrictions  annexed  to  the 
regency.  However,  it  is  certain  the  Prince  of  Wales  will  be  regent  and 


APPENDIX  435 

of  course  it  is  very  likely  there  will  be  a  great  change  in  the  ministry. 
Pitt  has  reassumed  a  great  popularity  in  defending  the  right  of  the 
people.  Considering  the  effect  of  the  revolution  respecting  America, 
I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  you  '11  be  more  favorably  treated  by  the 
future  ministry  who  shall  be  consisting  of  men  whose  liberality  of 
ideas  and  affection  toward  America  are  unquestionable. 

What  I  have  picked  up  here  respecting  France  is  that  the  king  has 
fixed  the  way  of  convocating  and  of  organising  the  States-General  — 
they  must  be  very  numerous.  So  much  the  better.  The  French  comp- 
troller seems  in  distress.  So  much  better  too.  We  shall  have  a  better 
competition  for  the  debt. 

Adieu  my  dear  friend.  Rely  upon  it,  I  shall  play  the  devil  to 
despatch  all  our  business  as  fast  as  possible  and  to  send  you  intelli- 
gence. Tell  Dr  I  thank  him  for  his  letter  of  credit,  but  I  've  not  had 
any  occasion  for  it.  My  best  compliments  to  him.  Remember  me  to 
your  ladies  and  depend  on  my  everlasting  friendship. 

(Signed)  De  Warville. 

Please  to  send  the  inclose  [sic]  to  my  brother-in-law,  M.  Dupont, 
wherever  he  may  be.  I  '11  be  obliged  to  D^  Craigie  to  mention  my 
arrival  with  my  compliments  to  Mr.  Barett. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Brissot 
(Scioto  Papers.    New  York  Historical  Society,  New  York  City.) 

New  York,  24  Jan.  1789. 
My  dear  Friend: 

It  was  a  month  or  five  weeks  after  your  departure  before  you  were 
suspected  of  having  left  America  and  it  has  caused  considerable 
speculation  among  those  whom  you  would  suspect  to  be  most  curious 
on  this  occasion.  I  hope  long  before  this  you  are  happy  with  your 
friends  in  France  and  begin  to  think  of  returning  to  America.  I  am 
this  day  informed  by  a  letter  from  my  friend  Porter  at  Alexandria 
that  your  brother  is  arrived  at  Norfolk  in  Virginia.  I  hope  in  a  few 
days  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  in  N.  Y. 

I  now  forward  to  you  a  power  of  attorney  and  copy  of  this  deed  of 
this  land  which  I  am  interested  in  and  wish  you  to  have  sold.  This 
tract  is  about  140  miles  from  the  city  of  New  York  and  about  the 
same  distance  from  the  city  of  Philadelphia  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
of  the  River  Susquehannah  [sic]  where  it  is  navigable  for  boats  of  20  to 
30  and  (sometimes)  50  barrels.  The  produce  of  the  country  sells  nearly 
as  high  as  in  the  city  and  the  soil  is  good.   A  French  crown  or  six  livres 


436  APPENDIX 

per  acre  is  the  lowest  price  which  the  proprietors  can  receive.  I 
suppose  a  much  higher  price  may  be  procured  for  it,  as  I  am  informed 
that  land  in  the  vicinity  of  it  has  lately  been  sold  for  three  and  some 
for  five  dollars  per  acre.  The  proprietors  will  allow  you  one  half  of  all 
you  can  get  above  the  six  livres,  but  in  case  it  sells  for  only  six  livres 
per  acre  they  will  allow  you  a  handsome  compensation  for  your 
trouble.  ... 

Securities  have  risen  since  you  left  here.    Notes  bearing  interest 
from  the  first  Jan.  1788  have  been  sold  for  5/3. 

Wishing  you  and  your  plans  all  possible  happiness  and  that  some- 
time we  may  have  the  pleasure  to  see  you  again  in  this  country, 

I  remain,  my  dear  Sir, 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

(Signed)  Andrew  Craigie. 

Our  friend  the  Colonel  is  well  and  has  lately  written  to  you. 

Brissot  to  Colonel  William  Duer 

(Scioto  Papers.    New  York  Historical  Society,  New  York  City.    Written  in 

English.) 

Paris,  31  January,  1789. 

I've  written  to  you,  my  excellent  friend,  from  Falmouth.  I  hope 
you  have  received  my  letter.  The  roads  were  very  bad  so  I  was  de- 
tained much  longer  I  expected.  Mr.  Parker  was  not  in  London.  I 
overreached  him  at  Dover,  we  crossed  the  British  Channel  and  went 
together  to  Paris;  I  availed  myself  from  the  length  of  the  way  and 
the  leisure  we  had,  to  sound  his  disposition  respecting  our  specula- 
tions and  projects.  I  communicated  to  him  the  general  plan  of  asso- 
ciation. His  lecture  seemed  not  to  me  operate  forcibly  on  his  mind. 
He  told  me  he  saw  many  difliculties  in  forming  such  an  association,  in 
dividing  the  shares;  moreover  he  had  entered  into  many  engagements 
he  ought  to  fulfill.  However  he  promised  me  to  make  an  attempt.  I 
reminded  him  that  you  had  furnished  him  with  information,  that  you 
had  assisted  him  and  of  course  you  were  entitled  to  some  benefit.  He 
answered  me  it  was  his  interest  to  give  you  a  share  in  the  profits  either 
of  his  own  bargain  or  of  the  general  association,  were  it  conveyed  into 
execution. 

We  have  since  seen  Mr.  Van  Staphorst  in  Paris.  He  seems  not 
averse  to  an  association  and  a  partner  to  Mr.  Stadninski  I  have  met 
just  now  assured  me  the  latter  was  in  the  same  disposition.  That 
association  cannot  be  settled  but  in  Amsterdam,  where  I  hope  to  be 


APPENDIX  437 

with  Mr.  Parker  in  a  fortnight.  As  to  my  friend  Claviere,  he  is  always 
satisfied  with  the  soHdity  of  the  speculation  and  he'll  come  into. 
However  there  are  many  modifications  to  make  in  the  plan.  Rely  on 
the  equity  of  Mr.  Claviere  and  on  my  zeal  for  your  concern  and  this 
of  Dr.  Craigie. 

Respecting  the  transfer  of  the  foreign  debt,  Mr.  Parker  confessed 
to  me  that  some  while  ago  he  with  Mr.  Laurent  de  Couteux  had  given 
a  plan  to  Mr.  Necker  to  get  that  transfer  and  he  hoped  to  succeed. 
He  did  not  give  to  me  any  details  about  it.  I  told  him  that  there  was 
another  plan  for  redeeming  that  debt,  formed  by  Mr.  Claviere,  ap- 
proved by  you,  from  which  immense  advantages  might  derive  to  the 
Society  which  should  carry  it  into  execution,  that  we  were  determined 
to  apply  to  the  French  court,  but  that  we  might  suspend  our  own 
application,  on  the  condition  that,  if  Mr.  Parker  obtained  the  transfer 
from  the  ministry,  he  should  enter  into  a  general  association  with  us 
and  on  equal  footing,  that  he  should  bind  himself  in  writing.  He 
agreed,  but  as  the  consent  of  Mr.  Laurent  de  Couteux  is  required,  we 
are  to  settle  with  him  that  point.  The  minister,  probably  on  account 
of  his  various  and  pressing  affairs,  has  not  given  any  answer.  How- 
ever the  circumstances  seem  favorable  to  get  the  transfer. 

As  to  the  loan  Mr.  P.  told  me  that  it  would  not  proceed  but  in  Hol- 
land, that  he  did  not  see  any  difficulty  to  succeed  if,  chiefly,  the  new 
congress  looked  determined  to  appropriate  to  the  payment  of  the 
interest  a  part  of  the  impost  he  is  to  raise. 

We  have  not  yet  conferred  about  the  Illinois  lands,  the  other  mat- 
ters being  much  more  important,  so  any  information  about  the  prog- 
ress is  postponed  till  the  next  letter. 

I  come  now  to  the  purchase  of  the  $109350  certificates.  Very  likely 
you  are  already  acquainted  by  Mr.  Seton  and  Dr.  Craigie  that  the 
bills  have  not  been  accepted,  with  the  motives  of  the  refusal,  and  the 
bond  of  the  payment.  I  tried  everything  in  my  power  to  have  them 
accepted  from  my  friend  who  was  first  inclined  to  accept  them.  But 
after  considering  the  matter  he  told  me:  Suppose  I  pay  those  bills, 
suppose  you  empower  to  transfer  in  my  name  that  debt,  the  power 
going  to  America  may  be  lost,  the  certificate  coming  back  may  be 
lost;  Mr.  Seton  may  die.  Many  difficulties  may  arise  about  the  trans- 
fer in  my  name.  In  those  circumstances  my  property  shall  be  uncer- 
tain and  not  at  my  disposal  for  a  long  while  and  meanwhile  I  shall  be 
deprived  from  6000  Stirling  at  a  time  when  the  money  is  so  scarce 
and  so  valuable.  Moreover  I  cannot  sell  those  funds  without  having 
the  certificate  in  my  name,  without  being  able  to  transfer  it  imme- 
diately to  the  purchaser.  It  therefore  seems  necessary  that  I  get  it 
previous  to  accepting.    I  shall  bind  myself  to  pay  at  his  reception. 


438  APPENDIX 

So  your  friends  in  America  cannot  have  any  doubts  about  the  pay- 
ment since  you  have  paid  them  in  cash  at  least  5%  of  the  purchase. 

I  could  not  make  any  reply  to  those  forcible  arguments  and  so  I 
acceded  to  the  plan  proposed  by  Mr.  Claviere  stated  in  the  letter  I've 
sent  to  Messrs.  Seton  and  Craigie.  I  was  chiefly  inclined  to  adopt  it, 
considering  that  Mr.  Seton  was  not  entitled  to  require  any  damage, 
having  not  advanced  any  money,  the  bills  not  being  protested,  and 
the  payment  being  ascertained.  So  my  dear  friend  send  as  fast  as 
possible  the  transfer  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Claviere  and  the  bills  shall 
be  paid  immediately.  .  .  .  (The  next  paragraph  is  illegible  on  ac- 
count of  a  tear  in  the  paper.) 

Don't  miss  any  occasion  to  write  to  me.  The  money  is  scarce  here, 
high  paid,  credit  stagnant,  tho'  the  writs  for  the  General  states  are 
despatching.  Believe  me  for  life  your  good  friend. 

(Signed)  Brissot  de  Warville. 

Chez  M.  Clavi^e.    H6tel  la 

COMPAGNIE   d'aSSUBANCE.    RuB 

DE  Richelieu. 

P.S.  Please  to  present  your  ladies  with  my  humble  respects,  my 
compliments  to  Dr.  Craigie  and  you'll  oblige  me  to  forward  that 
letter  to  Mr.  Dupont  whose  I  don't  know  the  direction. 

Brissot  to  Colonel  William  Duer 

(Scioto  Papers.    New  York  Historical  Society,  New  York  City.    Written  in 

English.) 

Pakis,  April  28,  1789. 
Dear  Friend:  — 

I  am  quite  amazed  not  to  have  received  any  line  from  you  since  I 
have  left  America.  Have  you  forgotten  one  of  your  best  friends.  I  am 
waiting  with  impatience  for  your  answer  about  the  transfer  of  the 
certificates. 

I  see  very  often  here  Parker  and  Haskell.  No  confidence  can  be 
put  in  Parker.  What  is  certain  is  this,  that  he  looks  for  monopolizing 
the  sale  of  American  funds  in  Europe;  and  he  looks  very  cool  about 
sharing  the  profits  with  his  friends  in  America.  He  has  played  so 
many  tricks  here  that  he  has  created  a  diffidence  about  the  American 
funds.  There  is  very  little  chance  for  Haskell  to  sell  now  his  certifi- 
cates here,  but  probably  he'll  find  a  market  in  Holland.  That  requires 
only  some  time.  I  have  not  any  doubt  that  when  the  disturbances 
shall  be  settled  here,  the  debt  funded  and  the  national  credit  restored, 
it  will  be  possible  to  bring  some  moneyed  people  in  a  speculation  upon 


APPENDIX  439 

your  funds  and  lands.  But  now  it  is  quite  impracticable.  We  must 
then  have  patience  for  putting  in  execution  the  schemes  we  have 
planned.  On  this  very  circumstance  I  '11  spend  the  whole  year  here. 

I  suppose  now  that  Claviere's  transfer  is  coming  here.  We'll  do  the 
best  for  disposing  of  it.  The  elections  are  going  very  briskly.  I've 
failed  to  be  elected  in  my  own  country  and  they  talk  of  me  for  being  a 
representative  for  Paris.  Shall  I  succeed,  God  knows,  but  I  don't 
care  very  much.  Though  I  believe  there  will  be  a  good  constitution, 
it  shall  be  by  far  inferior  to  yours.  I  do  beseech  you  my  friend  write 
me  some  time  about  the  progress  of  your  new  government  and  believe 
me  forever  your  everlasting  friend, 

(Signed)  Brissot  de  Warville. 

No.  1  Gretbt. 

G.  Martin  a  Monsieur  Brissot 

(Affaires  fitrangeres.   31  Decembre,  1792.   Angleterre  —  29  —  Supplement  f. 

340.  Original.) 

Affaires  secretes. 

COMPATRIOTE :  — 

Je  m'empresse  de  vous  faire  part  d'un  avis  que  j  'ai  regu  il  y  a  quel- 
ques  heures  et  sur  lequel  vous  pouves  [sic]  compter,  1  'ayant  eu  d  'une 
personne  en  qui  j'ai  la  plus  grande  confiance,  qui  la  merite  par  des 
preuves  incontestables  que  j  'en  ai  eue  [sic]  et  qui  a  luimeme  chiffre  la 
piece  dont  je  vais  vous  parler.  Notre  ami  commun  le  connoit  et  saura 
qui  je  veux  dire.  Cette  piece  n'est  rien  moins  qu'une  declaration  et 
requisition  envoyee  d  'ici  aux  trois  Cours  de  Berlin,  Vienne  et  Peters- 
bourg,  —  par  lesquelles  apres  leur  avoir  temoigne  I'accord  le  plus  com- 
plet  sur  leurs  idees,  leurs  vues  et  leurs  projets  au  sujet  de  la  France, 
dont  il  est  de  la  derniere  importance  d'arreter  les  progres  d'une  ma- 
niere  effective,  les  sollicite  respectivement  d  'envoyer  les  instructions  et 
les  pouvoirs  les  plus  amples  a  leurs  ambassadeurs  ou  envoyes  ici, 
et  en  outre  de  faire  passer  a  Londres  sans  perdre  de  tems  un  Militaire 
Entendu  afin  de  concerter  en  commun  les  operations  convenables  en 
les  assurant  qu'aussitot  qu'on  aura  pris  les  mesures  definitives  et 
f rappe  les  premiers  coups,  il  n  'y  aura  aucune  difficulte  sur  les  subsides, 
puisqu'on  est  determine  a  agir  de  la  maniere  la  plus  vigoureuse,  et 
qu'on  en  sent  I'absolue  necessite.  En  attendant  toutes  les  Puissances 
doivent  ne  negliger  aucun  moyen  de  donner  a  leurs  forces  toute 
1 'extension  possible,  en  recrutements,  augmentation,  approvisionne- 
ments,  etc.,  et  la  Russie  doit  agir  de  maniere  a  pouvoir  fournir  un 
corps  de  soixante  mille  hommes  s'il  est  juge  necessaire,  en  le  rappro- 
chant  autant  qu'il  lui  sera  possible,  et  que  sa  situation  en  Pologne  lui 


440  APPENDIX 

facilitera  pour  une  partie,  et  I'autre  s'avancant  au  dehors  de  la  Bal- 
tique,  pour  etre  transportee  par  mer  et  escortee  par  une  flotte  angloise, 
qui  ne  trouvera  aucune  opposition  dans  les  mers  du  Nord.  Cette  note 
repond  aux  sollicitations  de  ces  Puissances  et  a  la  connoissance 
qu  'elles  avoient  donne  de  1  'etat  de  leurs  finances  qu  'elles  representent 
comme  un  pen  epuisees,  dans  un  moment  ou  la  prudence  les  empeche 
d'ajouter  ouvertement  de  nouvelles  taxes.  Toute  mesure  ulterieure 
est  renvoyee  a  des  moments  plus  favorables,  la  seule  chose  dont  on 
doive  et  puisse  s'occuper  c'est  d'ecraser  I'ennemi  commun,  qui  n'a 
d  'autre  ressource  que  de  porter  le  trouble  et  le  desordre  partout,  sans 
s'embarrasser  des  consequences,  puisque  leur  banqueroute  est  in- 
evitable et  des  efforts  bien  concertes  I'ameneront  immediatement,  et 
mettront  leurs  ennemis  interieurs  en  etat  de  se  declarer  sans  crainte, 
et  avec  succes,  puisqu  'on  a  raison  de  croire  par  une  infinite  de  com- 
munications sures  qu  'ils  sont  beaucoup  plus  nombreux  qu  'on  ne  pense 
en  general.  II  y  a  ensuite  une  infinite  d'autres  details  et  de  pieces 
auxquelles  on  renvoye  et  on  finit  en  demandant  les  mesures  les  plus 
promptes,  et  en  observant  qu  'il  ne  convient  pas  de  vouloir  paroitre 
se  meler  des  affaires  interieures,  du  moins  en  commengant,  que  cela 
convient  surtout  a  ce  pays,  ou  il  importe  de  menager  1  'opinion  pub- 
lique,  dont  on  est  assure  et  qu  'il  ne  faut  pas  aliener  —  que  tout  a  con- 
tribue  dernierement  a  la  rendre  favorable,  et  que  la  Catastrophe  de 
Louis  XVI  a  laquelle  on  s 'attend  et  qu'on  regarde  meme  comme 
assuree  achevera  d  'exalter  les  esprits  et  de  les  porter  aux  mesures  les 
plus  energiques,  que  L'Angleterre  en  attendant  fera  les  preparatifs 
les  plus  etendus,  et  tout  ce  qui  dependra  d  'elle  pour  assurer  le  succes 
d'une  entreprise,  que  I'interet  de  I'humanite  rend  indispensable. 
On  a  fait  partir  deux  paquebots  avec  les  memes  depeches  1  'un  pour 
la  Hollande  et  1  'autre  pour  Hambourg,  et  on  a  envoye  en  meme  tems 
des  depeches  aux  Cours  de  Lisbonne,  de  Madrid  et  de  Turin. 

L'importance  de  cette  Communication  me  fait  courir  tons  les 
risques  pour  vous  la  faire  parvenir,  faites  en  1  'usage  que  vous  croires 
le  plus  convenable  en  evitant  de  me  compromettre.  Je  desire  beau- 
coup  qu'on  use  de  clemence  envers  le  Roi,  quand  la  Justice  et 
I'humanite  ne  I'exigeroit  pas,  la  politique  la  plus  saine  devroit  y 
determiner,  et  la  Convention  doit  se  prononcer,  et  ne  pas  craindre  les 
Maratistes  et  leurs  semblables.  Je  suis  persuade  quelle  sera  soutenue 
par  les  departements  —  il  seroit  grand  (temps?)  de  lui  bannir  et  de 
le  faire  transix>rter  en  Angleterre,  en  gardant  son  fils  pour  otage, 
qu'auroit  on  a  craindre,  il  est  nul  par  luimeme,  et  n  'aura  jamais  la  confi- 
ance  des  Emigrants  et  de  ceux  qui  les  soutiennent.  Apres  cette  mesure 
qui  auroit  1  'effet  le  plus  grand  sur  cette  nation  il  en  est  une  autre  sur 
laquelle  je  ne  hesiterois  pas,  et  qui  seroit  de  se  rendre  maitre  de  la 


APPENDIX  441 

Hollande.  Comme  je  pense  qu'il  ne  seroit  pas  difficile,  en  fesant  [sic] 
naltre  de  ces  occasions  qui  ne  manquent  jamais,  et  en  etant  prepare 
a  profiler  des  premieres  hostilites  pour  s'avancer.  Cette  mesure  est 
hardie,  mais  elle  est  necessaire,  et  si  on  ne  s'y  decide  pas,  je  crains 
bien  qu'on  ne  s'en  repente  quelque  jour,  la  saison  pourra  meme 
favoriser  un  pareil  dessein,  car  on  doit  s'attendre  a  de  fortes  gelees 
cette  annee,  qui  est  la  cinquieme  depuis  que  nous  n  'en  avons  pas  eu 
de  considerables.  II  y  va  du  salut  de  1  'Empire,  du  bonlieur  du  monde, 
et  dans  de  grands  dangers,  il  faut  de  grandes  mesures.  S  'il  est  quelque 
chose  en  quoi  je  puisse  etre  utile,  comptes  toujours  sur  moi.  Bien 
des  choses  a  notre  ami  commun,  j  'enverrai  le  manteau  et  la  chaine  de 
montre  dans  deux  ou  trois  jours.  Montres  [sic]  lui  cette  lettre,  il  vous 
en  dira  son  avis.    Tout  a  vous. 

G.  Martin. 
31  Decembre. 

Noel  part  aujourd'hui  pour  la  Haye.  E  faut  trouver  quelqu 'autre 
moyen  de  me  faire  parvenir  surement  vos  lettres,  ce  qui  me  paroit 
difficile,  mais  vous  pourries  [sic]  les  adresser  a  quelqu 'un  pour  moi  et 
me  le  faire  sgavoir  par  la  poste  a  qui. 


442  APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  B 

LIST  OF  MEMBERS  OF  THE   SOCIfiTfi  DES  AMIS 
DES  NOIRS 

The  following  list  of  members  of  the  SocietS  des  Amis  des  Noirs  is 
found  at  the  Archives  Nationales,  AD.  xviii,  C  115,  at  Paris.  The 
paper  has  neither  date  nor  signature,  but  from  the  epithet  applied  to 
Lameth^  it  must  have  been  as  late  as  1790,  and  from  the  epithets 
applied  to  Mirabeau  and  Robespierre,  the  author  was  probably  an 
anti-revolutionist. 

Tableau  des  Membres  de  la  SociStS  des  Amis  des  Noirs 

1.  Brissot  de  Warville, 

rue  d'Amboise,  no.  10. 

2.  E.  Claviere,  administrateur  de  la  Compagnie  royale  d 'Assurance 
sur  la  vie, 

rue  d'Amboise,  no.  10. 

3.  Le  Marquis  de  Beaupoil  Saint-Aulaire  au  Temple. 

4.  Brack,  Directeur  general  des  Traites, 

rue  de  Grammont,  no.  2. 

5.  A.  S.  Cerisier, 

en  Bourbonais. 

6.  Duchesnay,  Censeur  royal, 

rue  des  Bernardins,  no.  37. 

7.  Le  Marquis  de  Valady,  c'est  lui  qui  a  fait  revolter  le  regiment 

des  gardes  frangoises,  a  Londres. 

8.  Dufossey  de  Breban,  Directeur  de  la  Regie  generale 

rue  de  Grammont,  no.  19. 

9.  De  Bourge, 

rue  des  Filles  du  Calvaire,  no.  16. 

10.  Madame  la  Marquise  de  Baussans, 

Place  Royale. 

11.  J.  J.  Claviere,  Negociant  (rue  Coq-heron)  au  Parlement  d'An- 
gleterre. 

12.  Roman,  Negociant  rue  Coq-heron  au  Parlement  d'Angleterre. 

13.  De  Montcloux,  fils,  Fermier  General, 

rue  S.  Honore,  no.  341. 

'  Supplement  aux  procSs-verbal  Colonies,  tome  i,  Traite  des  n&gres,  parti  il. 


APPENDIX  443 

14.  De  Montcloux  de  la  Villeneuve,  Conseiller  a  la  Cour  des  Aides, 

rue  S.  Honore,  no.  341. 

15.  Madame  Poivre, 

rue  Feydeau,  no.  22. 

16.  De  Trudaine,  Conseiller.au  Parlement, 

rue  des  Francs  Bourgeois,  no.  39. 

17.  De  Trudaine  de  la  Sabliere,  Conseiller  au  Parlement, 

rue  des  Francs  Bourgeois,  no.  39. 

18.  Malartic  de  Fonda,  Maltre  de  Requetes, 

passage  des  Petits-Peres,  no.  7. 

19.  Le  Roi  de  Petitval,  Regisseur  general, 

passage  des  Petits-Peres,  no.  7. 

20.  L'Abbe  Colin, 

au  Presbytere  de  S.  Eustache. 

21.  Du  Rovray, 

en  Irlande. 

22.  Short,  Secretaire  de  1  'Ambassade  des  fitats-Unis  d  'Am^rique, 

pres  la  grille  de  Challlot. 

23.  De  Pilles,  ancien  Procureur  des  Comptes, 

rue  de  Grammont,  no.  19. 

24.  Le  Marquis  de  Condorcet,  Secretaire  perpetuel  de  1 'Academic 
des  Sciences.   Membre  de  1  'Academie  FranQoise, 

h6tel  de  la  Monnoie. 

25.  Charton  de  la  Terriere, 

en  Amerique. 

26.  Kornman, 

rue  Careme. 

27.  Blot,  Controleur  de  la  marque  d'or, 

a  Lyon. 

28.  Esmangard,  fils,  Conseiller  au  Parlement, 

rue  des  Capucins,  no.  22. 

29.  Dieres,  Conseiller  a  la  Cour  des  Aides, 

rue  Jacob. 

30.  Des  Faucherets, 

rue  de  Paradis. 

31.  Gramagnac,  Docteur  en  Medicine, 

hotel  de  Lussan,  rue  Croix  des  Petits-Champs. 

32.  Lanthenas,  Docteur  en  Medicine, 

rue  Thevenot,  no.  31. 

33.  Du  Vaucel,  Fermier  General, 

rue  neuve  des  Mathurins,  no.  1. 

34.  Gallois,  Avocat  au  Parlement, 

rue  des  Petits  Augustins,  no.  24. 


444  APPENDIX 

35.  Le  Marquis  de  Mons, 

rue  neuve  des  Petits-Champs,  no,  26. 

36.  L'Abbe  Guyot,  Prevot  de  S.  Martin  de  Tours, 

rue  Traversiere,  no.  35. 

37.  Pigot, 

a  Geneve. 

38.  Le  Baron  de  Dietrick, 

rue  Poissoniere. 

39.  Lavoisier,  Fermier  General, 

a  1  'Arsenal. 

40.  Bergerot,  Directeur  des  Fermes, 

hotel  des  Fermes. 

41.  Biderman,  Negociant, 

a  Bruxelles. 

42.  De  Pastoret,  Maitre  des  Requetes, 

rue  des  Capucines,  no.  74. 

43.  Cottin,  fils,  Banquier, 

Chausse  d' An  tin,  no.  8. 

44.  D'Audignac,  Directeur  de  la  Regie  generale, 

rue  de  Choiseul. 

45.  Le  Comte  de  la  Cepede, 

au  Jardin  du  Roi. 

46.  Munier  de  Montengis, 

a  1  'hotel  Royal  des  Invalides. 

47.  Madame  Claviere, 

rue  d'Amboise,  no.  10. 

48.  Le  Chevalier  de  Boufflers, 

hotel  de  Rohan,  rue  de  Varenne. 

49.  Gougenot,  Receveur  general  de  la  Regie  generale, 

rue  de  Choiseul. 
50;  Petry,  Directeur  des  Fermes, 

hotel  de  Longueville,  rue  S.  Nicaise. 

51.  De  Saint- Alphonse,  Fermier  General, 

rue  S.  Honore  no.  423. 

52.  Fortin, 

rue  de  Choiseul. 

53.  Henry,  Avocat  au  Parlement, 

rue  Saint-Jean-de-Beauvais. 

54.  Le  Prince  Emmanuel  de  Salm, 

rue  de  Crenelle,  faubourg  S.  Germain,  no.  231. 

55.  Duport,  Conseiller  au  Parlement, 

rue  du  Grand-Chantier,  hotel  du  Port-frais,  no.  ! 

56.  Segretier. 


APPENDIX  445 

57.  Soufflot,  Inspecteur  des  Batimens  de  Sainte-Genevieve, 

a  Sainte-Genevieve, 

58.  Agasse  de  Cresne, 

rue  Pavee  Saint- Andre-des- Arts,  no.  12, 

59.  Servat,  Agent  de  la  ville  de  Bourdeaux, 

boulevart  Montmorency,  vis-a-vis  le  Pavilion, 

60.  Crohare, 

rue  de  la  comedie  frangoise,  au  coin  de  la  rue  des  Cordeliers. 

61.  Le  Comte  de  Valence, 

rue  Chausee  d'Antin,  no.  170. 
Gl.^  Hocquart  de  Tremilly,  Avocat  General  de  la  Cour  des  Aides, 
rue  neuve  des  Petits-Champs,  no.  71. 

62.  Le  Comte  Charles  de  Lameth,  dit  le  General  des  Annonciades,^ 
et  de  la  mflice  bourgeoise  de  Pointoise, 

cul-de-sac-Notre-Dame-des-Champs. 

63.  Le  Chevalier  Alexandre  de  Lameth, 

meme  demeure. 

64.  Le  Chevalier  Theodore  de  Lameth, 

meme  demeure. 

65.  Le  Marquis  du  Chatelet, 

hotel  de  Brissac,  quai  des  Theatins. 

66.  Le  Comte  de  Rochechouart, 

rue  de  Crenelle,  faubourg  S.  Germain,  no.  99. 

67.  Molliens,  premier  Commis  des  Finances, 

rue  de  la  Michaudiere. 

68.  Bergon,  premier  Commis  des  Finances, 

rue  de  la  Michaudiere. 

69.  De  Sannois,  Fermier  General, 

hotel  des  Fermes. 

70.  Le  Vicomte  de  Ricey, 

rue  de . 

71.  Benoit  de  Lamothe,  Sous-chef   de  la  comptabilite  de  la  Regie 
generale, 

rue  neuve  Saint-Eustache,  no.  21. 

72.  Leroy  de  Camilly,  Payeur  des  Rentes, 

rue  S.  Marc,  no.  23. 

^  The  mistake  here  is  in  the  original  numbering.  There  are  two  61's. 

^  Lameth,  as  member  of  the  Comite  des  Recherckes  to  which  he  was  elected 
in  1720,  was  obliged  to  make  a  visit  by  night  to  the  convent  of  the  Annonciades 
to  arrest  M.  de  Barentin,  an  accused  minister  who  had  taken  refuge  there. 
This  visit  was  made  the  subject  of  ridicule  by  the  royalists  and  furnished  the 
occasion  for  a  comic  poem  beginning,  — 

"  Je  chante  ce  heros  de  milice  bourgeoise, 
OrateuT  a  Paris,  general  a  Pontoise" 


446  APPENDIX 

73.  Dupleix  de  Mezy,  Conseiller  au  Parlement, 

rue  des  petites  Ecuries  du  Roi. 

74.  Vallou  de  Villeneuve,  Sous-chef  de  la  Regie  generale, 

rue  S.  Joseph. 

75.  Le  Marquis  de  la  Feuillade, 

rue  des  Marais. 

76.  De  Moulan,  Receveur  general  des  Finances, 

rue  de  Clichy. 

77.  Le  Marquis  de  S.  Lambert. 

78.  De  Vayne. 

79.  Del'Etang. 

80.  Savalette  de  Lange. 

81.  Le  Marquis  de  Pampelune. 

82.  Desissarts. 

83.  L'Abbe  Sieyes,  le  Depute. 

84.  L'Abbe  Lageare. 

85.  Doizan,  fils  du  Fermier  general. 

86.  De  BouIIongne. 

87.  Le  Sage. 

88.  Le  Roy. 

89.  L'Abbe  Coulon. 

90.  Gougenot  de  Croissy. 

91.  De  Missy. 

92.  Bertrand  des  Brus. 

93.  Lescallier. 

94.  Marquise  de  Condorcet. 

95.  My-lord  Daer. 

96.  L'Abbe  Noel. 

97.  Le  Baron  de  Buest. 

98.  Messent. 

99.  L'Abbe  Louis. 

Associes  Etr angers 

1.  L'Abbe  Piatoli, 

boulevard  de  Richelieu,  chez  Madame  la  Princesse  Lubor- 
miska. 

2.  Clarkson,  negociant, 

a  Dublin. 

3.  Siodier,  negociant, 

a  Geneve. 

4.  Dumont, 

a  Londres. 

5.  Mazzey. 


APPENDIX  447 

AssociSs  correspondans  regnicoles. 

1.  De  Souligne,  Directeur  des  Fermes, 

a  Lyon. 

2.  De  Suilly,  Gentilhomme, 

a  Orleans. 

3.  Petion  de  Ville  neuve,  Avocat, 

a  Chartes. 

4.  D'Autroche  (Cher), 

a  Orleans. 

5.  Le  Marquis  de  Gronchy, 

a  Meulan. 

6.  M.  le  Due  d  'Aiguillon. 

7.  M.  le  Comte  de  Mirabeau,  dit  le  Flambeau  de  la  Provence, 
comme  Robespierre  la  Chandelle  d' Arras.  ^ 

8.  M.  Cottin,  Depute  de  Nantes, 

^  According  to  the  Didionnaire  Larousse  the  nickname  Chandelle  d' Arras 
was  applied  to  Robespierre  by  the  Actes  des  Apotres,  a  royalist  journal  which 
ridiculed  him  as  a  provincial  lawyer  lost  among  distinguished  orators.  The 
Flambeau  de  la  Province  probably  came  from  the  same  source. 


448  APPENDIX 


APPENDIX   C 

ACCUSATION  AGAINST  BRISSOT  IN  CONNECTION 
WITH  THE  COLONIES 

{Archives  Nationales.  AA  54,  1509.  2,  no.  46.) 

Notices  sur  Brissot 
Brissot  a  ete  I'agent  de  I'engleterre  [sic]  pour  ruiner  les  Colonies 
Frangaises. 

Brissot  connoissoit  le  genie  des  hommes  de  couleur  et  1  'esprit  public 
des  colonies,  il  [sic]  sgavoit  que  pour  agiter  les  Colonies,  il  sufl&soit  de 
metre  [sic]  en  mouvement  les  passions  de  ces  deux  classes  d 'hommes 
quel'encien  [sic]  regime  avoit  places  a  de  grandes  distances.  C'est 
pour  cela  que  le  15  fevrier  1790.  No.  CXCI  il  applaudit  a  Joly  de 
Fleury  qui  demanda  a  la  Commune  de  Paris  qu'elle  sollicitoit  aupres 
de  I'assemblee  Constituante  L 'admission  des  hommes  de  Couleur 
dans  son  sein.  Brissot  appuya  cette  petition  a  la  Commune  dont  il 
etoit  membre. 

Brissot  dit  dans  son  No.  233,  29,  Mars.,  1790,  que  ne  pas  admetre 
les  deputes  des  hommes  de  couleur  au  sein  de  1  'assemblee  Constitu- 
ante: C'est  preparer  la  mine  de  la  Colonic. 

Dans  son  No.  594,  25  Mars  1791.  Brissot  dit  que  I'assemblee  na- 
tional ne  doit  pas  balancer  de  prefferer  [sic]  aux  blancs  les  hommes 
de  Couleur  dont  les  vertus  fairont  [sic]  un  jour  la  regeneration  et  la 
prosperite  des  Colonies. 

Dans  son  No.  664,  3,  Juin  1791,  il  se  pleint  [sic]  de  ce  que  le  Comite 
Colonial  n'a  pas  provoque  de  I'assemblee  nationale  le  decret  d 'ad- 
mission des  deputes  des  hommes  de  couleur. 

Dans  son  No.  816,  Novembre  4,  1791,  sachant  que  les  Commercans 
du  Havre  preparaient  des  secours  pour  S[ain]t  Domingue;  il  les 
accuse  de  n'y  porter  des  secours  que  pour  aider  les  blancs  a  opprimer 
les  hommes  de  couleur. 

Dans  son  No.  820.  Novembre  8,  1791,  il  dit  que  les  details  donnes 
sur  I'assemblee  Coloniale  de  S[ain]t  Domingue  de  la  revolte  des  es- 
claves  ne  sont  que  mensonge.  il  dit  que  cette  revolte  n'est  qu'un 
pretexte  pour  appeller  les  Anglois  au  Cap. 

Dans  son  No.  834,  22,  Novembre  1791,  il  dit  que  les  desordres  de 
Saint  Domingue  sont  une  manoeuvre  de  cette  Colonic  pour  se  rendre 
independante.  II  les  attribue  encore  a  la  cruaute  des  blancs  envers 
leurs  esclaves. 


APPENDIX  449 

Dans  son  No.  850.  8.  Decembre  1791  —  il  dit  que  les  blancs  ont 
revolte  leurs  negres  pour  se  rendre  independante  et  ne  pas  payer  leurs 
dettes. 

Dans  son  No.  208  —  Mars  4,  1791  —  il  accuse  Fassemblee  provin- 
ciale  du  Nord  de  S[ain]t  Domingue  de  vouloir  se  rendre  independante. 

Dans  son  No.  557,  16  —  Fevrier  1791  — il  dit  si  les  colons  enten- 
dent  bien  leurs  interets  ils  se  soumetront  quoique  certainement  on 
ait  comis  une  injustice  a  n 'entendre  pas  leurs  representans:  maiss'ils 
sont  bons  frangais,  ils  oublieront  cette  injustice. 

Dans  son  No.  935  —  Mars.  2,  —  1791,  il  dit  que  les  mulatres  n'ont 
lasse  les  municipalites  que  parcequ 'elles  etoient  le  repaire  de  I'aris- 
tocratie. 

Dans  son  No.  955,  Mars  22,  1792,  il  attenne  le  tableau  des  des- 
ordres  de  St.  Domingue,  il  en  accuse  I'orgueil  des  blancs,  leur  obstina- 
tion  a  ne  pas  accorder  1  'activite  politique  aux  hommes  de  couleur,  il 
en  accuse  enfin  1  'assemblee  Coloniale. 

Dans  son  No.  961,  28.  Mars  1792,  il  dit  que  la  Province  du  Nord 
de  S[ain]t  Domingue  est  perdue  par  I'obstination  de  I'assemblee 
Coloniale  a  restituer  aux  hommes  de  couleur  1  'activite  politique. 

Dans  son  No.  967, 1  Avril  1792,  il  dit  on  remplit  les  papiers  publics 
de  funestes  nouvelles  sur  la  situation  de  S[ain]t  Dominque.  Nous  ne 
devons  cesser  de  metre  [sic]  le  public  en  garde  contre  les  mensonges 
dont  la  france  est  imbue.  On  sgait  que  nos  princes  les  Colons  ont 
toujours  dans  leur  poche  quelques  lettres  de  commende,  [sic]  juste- 
ment  arrivant  du  Cap  et  bonnes  on  meauvais  [sic]  suivant  le  besoin. 

Dans  son  No.  979,  15  Avril  1792,  il  dit  que  le  decret  du  15  May 
n'est  pas  la  cause  des  malheurs  de  S[ain]t  Domingue  mais  bien 
I'orgueil  des  blancs. 

Dans  son  No.  1022,  26  May,  1792,  il  fait  I'apologie  de  Blanchelande 
et  autres  chefs  des  Conspirateurs  et  une  diatribe  attroce  [sic]  contre 
l'ass[emblee]  Coloniale. 

Dans  son  No.  1022,  28  Mars  1792,  il  applaudit  a  une  lettre  de 
S[ain]t  Domingue  qui  annonce  la  coalition  de  15000  hommes  tant 
blancs  que  mulatres  qui  marchent  contre  le  Ville  du  Port  au  Prince, 
il  applaudit  encor  [sic]  a  I'incendie  de  I'habitation  du  patriote 
borel.  [sic] 

Dans  son  No.  1075,  20,  Juillet,  1792  —  il  rapporte  une  lettre  qu'il 
dit  venir  de  S[ain]t  Domingue  qui  fait  I'apologie  de  Blanchelande  et 
autres  contre  revolutionaires  pendant  qu  'elle  distille  le  venim  sur  les 
patriotes. 

Dans  son  No.  1096,  10.  Aout,  1792,  il  fait  I'eloge  de  la  loi  du  4 
Avril  1792  —  qui  suivant  lui  pouroit  seule  rammener  [sic]  I'ordre  a 
S[ain]t  Domingue. 


450  APPENDIX 

Dans  son  No.  1112  —  26,  Aout  1792,  il  fait  Feloge  de  Blanchelande 
et  des  autres  chefs  de  la  contre  revolution. 

Dans  son  No.  1187,  9,  Novembre  1792,  il  fait  I'apologie  de  Blanche- 
lande. 

Dans  son  No.  1273, 5  Fevrier  1790,  il  accuse  les  petits  blancs  d 'avoir 
egorge  et  pille  les  maisons  du  Cap. 

Dans  son  No.  233,  29,  May  1790,  il  insere  son  discours  sur  la 
necessite  d  'etablir  a  Paris  une  societe  pour  1  'abolition  de  la  Traite. 

Dans  son  No.  327,  Juillet,  10, 1790,  il  pretent  [sic]  qu'on  peut  ecrire 
sur  les  negres  sans  aucun  danger  parce-qu 'il[s]  ne  savent  n'ont  [sic] 
pas  le  terns  de  lire. 

Dans  son  No.  1026,  1"  Juin  1792,  il  dit  que  les  malheurs  de  S[ain]t 
Domingue  f rappent  1 ' Angleterre  bien  plus  que  la  f ranee. 

Dans  son  No.  1263,  26,  Janvier  1793,  il  dit  que  les  Colons  blancs  se 
reffugient  dans  la  nouvelle  engleterre  [sic]  dont  ils  ne  peuvent  manquer 
de  corrompre  les  moeurs  en  y  emmenant  leurs  fantaisies  et  leurs 
esclaves. 

Dans  son  No.  1263,  26,  Janvier  1793,  il  nie  que  I'assemblee  Co- 
loniale  ait  le  droit  que  lui  ont  attribue  I'assemblee  Constituante  et 
celle  [sic]  legislative  celui  de  prononcer  sur  le  sort  des  esclaves. 

Dans  son  No.  1270,  fevrier  2,  1793,  il  insere  un  pamphlet  qu'il  dit 
etre  de  Villete.  Ce  pamphlet  adresse  a  la  Convent[ion]  Nationale  dit 
donnes  a  vos  negres  la  liberte:  vous  couvrires  [sic]  la  terre  de  com- 
batans,  qui  sgauront  la  deffendre  [sic]  il  ne  vous  en  coutera  qu  'un 
decret. 

Le  27.  Octobre  1792,  Brissot  dit  que  —  Talien  a  tort  de  proposer 
I'envoy  de  secours  a  S[ain]t  Domingue  il  dit  que  Talien  ignore  que 
les  Espagnols  n'ont  dans  cette  contree  que  3000.  hommes  pendant 
que  la  patrie  fran^aise  est  deffendue  par  dix  mille  hommes  de  troupes 
reglees  et  vingt  mille  mulatres. 

Dans  son  No.  1004,  10.  May  —  1792,  il  dit  qu'il  n'existe  aucune 
faction  republicaine;  que  c'est  un  phantome  [sic]  que  les  moderes  ont 
cree  pour  aigrir  les  patriotes.     [The  following  sentence  is  illegible.] 

Dans  son  No.  1209,  27.  Novembre  1792,  il  dit  que  la  Convention 
doit  sevir  contre  la  rebellion  de  1  'ass[emblee]  Colo[niale]  qui  a  en- 
voye  en  france  trois  Commiss[aires]  pour  presenter  a  la  sanction  un 
decret  sur  I'esclavage. 

Affaire  de  sa  lettre  a  la  Constitua[nte] 

1  'affaire  de  Geng^  D. 


APPENDIX 


451 


APPENDIX  D 

BRISSOT'S  ELECTION  TO  THE  LEGISLATIVE 
ASSEMBLY 

The  following  table  explains  Brissot's  struggle  for  election  as  a 
deputy  from  the  department  of  the  Seine  to  the  Legislative  Assembly. 
It  shows  his  successive  defeats,  the  names  of  those  who  defeated  him, 
and  his  final  victory.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  election  had  to  be  by 
the  absolute  majority  of  the  electors.  For  the  details  of  the  struggle 
see  Chavaray,  Assemblee  Electorale  de  Paris,  1791-92,  pp.  137-227. 


Deputy. 

Date. 

Ballot. 

Total. 

Brissot. 

Candidate  Chosen. 

Fu-st 

iSept. 

First 

802 

10 

1 

" 

Second 

821 

2 

Garran  de  Coulon 

Second 

2 

« 

First 

687 

130 

Lacepede 

Third 

3 

(( 

First 

739 

163 

3 

(( 

Second 

814 

179 

Pastoret 

Fourth 

4 

« 

First 

709 

153 

4 

« 

Second 

725 

138 

Cerutti 

Fifth 

5 

" 

First 

698 

100 

5 

(< 

Second 

799 

82 

Beauvais  de  Preau 

Sixth 

5 

« 

First 

733 

112 

6 

« 

Second 

609 

32 

Bigot  de  Preameneu 

Seventh 

6 

<( 

First 

756 

33 

6 

« 

Second 

773 

18 

6 

« 

Thh-d 

694 

0 

Gouvion 

Eighth 

7 

« 

First 

722 

15 

7 

<< 

Second 

759 

9 

Broussonet 

Ninth 

7 

« 

First 

663 

142 

9 

<c 

Second 

662 

198 

9 

<( 

Third 

752 

305 

Crette  de  Palud 

Tenth 

9 

« 

First 

719 

180 

9 

(< 

Second 

644 

168 

10 

" 

Third 

769 

263 

Gorguereau 

Eleventh 

10 

<< 

First 

697 

96 

* 

12 

i< 

*Second 

652 

137 

13 

(< 

Second 

653 

256 

13 

" 

Third 

757 

352 

Thorillon 

Twelfth 

13 

" 

First 

725 

254 

14 

" 

Second 

692 

302 

14 

(< 

Third 

641 

409 

Brissot 

*  Annulled. 

452  APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  E 

LETTER  RELATING  TO  CONNECTION  OF  BRISSOT 
WITH  WAR  WITH  ENGLAND 

(Affaires  fitrangeres.  Le  19.  Septembrel'anl*'.  del'egalitg.  Angleterre— 582. 

£*>.  182.  Original.   Paris.) 
Ifere  division. 

Jullienfils  au  Ministre  des  Af  aires  Etrangeres 

Pakis  — cel9.  7bre  I'an  1«  de  1 'egalite. 
Monsieur, 

Je  regois  dans  ce  moment  une  lettre  d 'Angleterre  qui  me  prouve 
que  la  mesure  que  je  vous  ai  proposee  et  qu  'ont  appuyee  M[essieu]rs 
Brissot  et  Condorcet  est  plus  que  jamais  urgente  et  necessaire.  On 
intercepte  presque  tous  les  paquets  venant  de  f ranee,  c'est  a  dire 
qu'on  veut  epaissir  le  bandeau  jette  sur  les  yeux  du  peuple  Anglais  et 
le  conduire  ensuite  plus  aizement  a  cette  guerre  qu'il  ne  pourroit 
jamais  consentir  s'il  etait  eclaire.  Sur  I'invitation  de  M[onsieur] 
Brissot  et  d'un  de  mes  amis  M[onsieur]  Eury  a  qui  vous  aviez  paru 
temoigner  le  desir  de  me  voir  pour  que  j  'achevasse  de  vous  donner 
les  renseignements  que  j  'avois  pu  prendre,  je  me  suis  presente  plusieurs 
fois  chez  vous,  —  sans  jamais  pouvoir  vous  parler,  les  occupations 
multipliees  de  votre  place  me  font  assez  sentir  I'impossibilite  ou  vous 
etes  de  recevoir  tous  ceux  qui  s'adressent  a  vous.  Cependant  le  motif 
qui  m'a  conduit  me  parait  ainsi  qu'a  tous  ceux  a  qui  je  I'ai  com- 
munique d  'une  grande  importance.  Quel  a  ete  mon  etonnement  d  'en- 
tendre dire  a  I'un  de  vos  secretaires  a  qui  vous  comptiez  difiFerer 
jusqu'apres  les  premieres  operations  de  la  convention  nationale  la 
mesure  proposee.  Ce  seroit  perdre  absolument  I'efiFet  qu'on  pent  en 
attendre.  Je  suis.  Monsieur,  dans  le  langage  de  la  liberte  et  de 
I'egalite  qui  ne  sauroit  etre  etranger  au  ministre  de  Citoyens  egaux 
et  libres. 

Votre  Concitoyen,  frere  et  ami, 

JULLIEN  fils. 

Et  au  Verso:  Au  Ministre  des  Affaires  fitrangeres,  a  Paris. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I.  MANUSCRIPT  MATERIAL 

The  papers  of  Brissot,  after  the  death  of  Madame  Brissot,  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  their  son  Anacharsis.  After  some  years  he 
confided  them  to  the  pubhsher  Ladvocat,  who,  in  turn,  passed  them 
on  to  M.  Montrol,  who  used  them  as  the  basis  for  his  pubhcation  of 
the  memoirs  of  Brissot.  The  "portfoHo,"  as  this  collection  of  papers 
is  called,  must  certainly  have  contained  correspondence  and  other 
material  not  utilized  in  the  memoirs,  but  what  has  become  of  these 
manuscripts  is  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  It  seems  that  they  were  in 
1865  in  the  possession  of  the  son  of  M.  Montrol,  who  was  unwilling 
to  relinquish  them. 

Apart  from  this  portfolio  Anacharsis  probably  kept  a  portion  of  the 
correspondence  for  himself.  At  all  events,  his  widow  appears  to  have 
given  some  of  the  letters  to  M.  Faugere,  copies  of  which  are  to  be 
found  among  the  Roland  papers  at  the  Bihliotheque  Nationale,  at 
Paris;  the  widow  of  Brissot's  grandson  also  possesses  a  part  of  the 
family  correspondence,  and  there  exist  numerous  other  letters  in 
different  places.  All  of  this  scattered  correspondence,  which  includes 
letters  written  by  various  members  of  his  own  and  his  wife's  family, 
together  with  a  number  of  documents  pertaining  to  the  arrest  and  trial 
of  Brissot,  has  been  collected  and  published  by  M.  Perroud  in  his  recent 
edition  of  the  Correspondance  et  Papier s  de  Brissot,  but  the  "portfolio " 
is  still  undiscovered.  The  Brissot  manuscripts,  then,  are  for  the  most 
part  either  included  in  the  Correspondance  or  are  not  accessible. 

There  is  one  exception,  however.  Since  the  publication  of  the 
Correspondance  there  has  been  discovered  among  the  Craigie  Papers 
in  the  collection  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society  at  Worcester, 
Massachusetts,  and  among  the  Scioto  Papers  in  the  collection  of  the 
New  York  Historical  Society,  a  considerable  collection  of  letters  to 
and  from  Brissot  and  concerning  him,  dealing  chiefly  with  his  relations 
with  American  speculators.  Possibly  these  letters  may  have  some 
connection  with  the  sixty-five  letters  to  Brissot  by  Americans  an- 
nounced in  the  Charavay  Catalogue  of  1858.  A  list  of  the  letters  in 
this  recently  discovered  material  and  a  list  of  other  manuscript 
sources  not  contained  in  M.  Perroud's  collection  are  given  below. ^ 

*  See  the  t!itude  critique  by  M.  Perroud,  prefixed  to  his  edition  of  Brissot's 
memoirs,  xiv;  also  the  Correspondance,  avertissement,  450-57. 


456  BIBLIOGRAPHY 


A.    Archives  Nationales  (Paris) 

1.  In  carton  "  Trihunaux  rSvolutionnaires  — 
affaire  des  Girondins."   {W  292,  dossier  20J^) 

Lettre  des  commissaires  et  des  colons  de  Saint  Domingue  au  Comity 
de  stirete  generale,  26  septembre,  1793.  Original  signe.  A.  N.,  W  292, 
no.  204  (2«  partie),  piece  68;  Tuetey,  viii,  3335. 

A  denunciation  of  Brissot  as  responsible  for  the  troubles  in  Santo  Do- 
mingo and  also  of  Milcent,  one  of  his  alleged  agents. 

Lettre  de  citoyen  Ruelle,  ci-devant  charge  des  affaires  de  France 
aux  Pays-Bas,  au  Comite  de  surete  generale,  24  juillet,  1793.  Original 
signe,  A.  N.,  W  292,  no.  204  (2«  partie),  piece  74;  Tuetey,  viii,  3210. 

An  accusation  that  Brissot  had  removed  an  important  document  from 
the  papers  of  the  Diplomatic  Committee,  namely,  a  complaint  against  the 
ex-minister  Lebrun. 

Lettre  du  citoyen  Ruelle,  ancien  charge  des  affaires  de  France,  aux 
Pays-Bas,  a  I'accusateur  public  pres  le  Tribunal  revolutionnaire,  8 
octobre,  1793.  Original  signe,  A.  N.,  W  292,  no.  204  (2^  partie),  piece 
73;  Tuetey,  viii,  3360. 

A  renewed  statement  of  the  same  accusation. 

Lettre  du  sieur  Tresset,  fils,  rue  de  Clery,  hotel  de  France,  a  I'ac- 
cusateur public  du  Tribunal  revolutionnaire,  7  brumaire,  an  II  (28 
octobre,  1793).  Original  signe,  A.  N.,  W  292,  no.  204  (3^  partie), 
piece  6;  Tuetey,  viii,  3415. 

Calls  attention  to  the  desirability  of  summoning  Morande  as  a  wit- 
ness against  Brissot,  especially  in  regard  to  his  relations  with  the  British 
government. 

Declaration  faite  par  devant  Frangois  Joseph  Denizot,  juge  au  Tri- 
bunal revolutionnaire  par  Pierre  Frangois  Page,  28^  jour  du  ler  mois 
de  I'an  11  (19  octobre,  1793).  Original  signe,  A.  N.,  W  292,  no.  204 
(  5^  partie),  piece  6;  Tuetey,  viii,  3383. 

An  accusation  that  Brissot  was  acting  as  the  agent  of  England  in  his 
colonial  policy. 

Avis  de  M.  CoUombel,  depute  de  la  Meurthe,  au  Comite  de  Salut 
public,  7  brumaire,  an  II  (28  octobre,  1793).  Original  signe,  A.  N.,  W 
292,  no.  204  (3«' partie),  piece  10 ;  Tuetey,  viii,  3413. 

A  charge  that  Brissot  was  guilty  of  complicity  with  Dumouriez. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  457 

Lettre  de  Varlet,  electeur  de  la  section  de  Droits,  apotre  de  la 
liberte,  au  citoyen  Fouquier  Tinville,  accusateur  public  du  Tribunal 
revolutionnaire,  8  brumaire,  an  II  (29  octobre,  1793).  Original  signe, 
A.  N.,  W  292,  no.  204  (3^  partie),  piece  5;  Tuetey,  viii,  34.19. 
A  request  to  be  called  as  a  witness  in  the  trial  of  Brissot. 

S.    Other  Material  at  the  Archives  Nationales 

Lettre  de  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  a  M.  Buisson  en  date  du  10  avril, 
1789.  Copie,  A.  N.,  Y,^  551. 

An  explanation  by  Brissot  of  his  use  of  Buisson's  name  as  a  person  to 
whom  he  might  send  subscriptions  for  the  Patriate  Franqais. 

Lettre  de  M.  Maissemy  a  M.  Buisson,  13  avril,  1789.  Copie.  A.  N., 
\\  551. 

Commends  Buisson  for  having  disclaimed  responsibility  for  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  prospectus  of  Brissot's  journal. 

Lettre  de  M.  de  Maissemy,  lieutenant  general  de  la  libraire,  pro- 
posant  r interdiction  de  la  feuille  periodique,  intitulee  le  Patriate 
Franqais,  ou  journal  libre,  impartial,  et  national,  par  une  societe  des 
citoyens  qu'annonce  sans  permission  aucune  Brissot  de  Warville, 
arrive  au  dernier  degre  de  I'audace  enhardie  par  impunite;  avec  lettre 
circulaire  aux  inspecteurs  de  la  presse  des  provinces.    Tuetey,  i,  2862. 

Annulation  de  la  societe  projetee  entre  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  et 
le  libraire,  Buisson,  pour  la  publication  du  Patriate  Franqais,  17  sep- 
tembre,  12  novembre,  1789.  Minutes,  A.  N .,  VS  553;  Tuetey,  ii,  2902. 

Lettres  de  felicitation  des  Societes  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution  de 
I'Yonne  et  de  Saint-Denis  et  de  plusieurs  electeurs  du  district  de  Lyon 
pour  la  choix  de  Brissot,  19,  20,  28  septembre,  1791.  Originaux  signes, 
A.  N.,  B,i  11;  Tuetey,  i,  3033. 

The  occasion  was  his  election  to  the  Legislative  Assembly. 

Comite  diplomatique  (assemblee  legislative),  Proces-verbaux,  rap- 
ports, adresses,  avis,  etc.  A.  N.,  F^,  4395. 

Brief  summary. 

Rapport  de  police  au  sujet  des  menees  de  la  cabale  des  Narbonne, 
Brissot  et  Fauchet,  des  conciliabules  chez  M.  de  Sillery,  et  de  la  dis- 
cussion orageuse  cbez  le  maire  de  Paris  entre  Robespierre,  Brissot, 
Legendre,  Guadet  et  Claviere.   3  avril,  1792.  Original,  ^.  TV.,  F^  4386. 

"D'apres  Bertrand  de  Mole\'ille,  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  de  France, 
VIII,  229.  Brissot,  I'abbe  Fauchet,  Isnard,  Vergniaud,  et  Guadet  figurent 
parmi  les  deputes  dont  on  avait  voulu,  en  novembre  1791,  acheter  la 
voix  et  1 'influence  moyennant  un  subside  mensuel  de  6,000  livres  pour 
chacun  d'eux."  Tuetey,  Repertoire,  iv,  163. 


458  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Declaration  du  sleur  Joseph  Petit,  practicien,  reque  par  le  sieur  Jean 
Pierre  Civet,  commissaire  de  police  de  la  section  du  Faubourg-St.- 
Denis,  portant  .  .  .  qu'il  a  ete  denonce  par  les  sieurs  Goulet  et  Beu- 
zelin,  payes  comme  lui,  pour  cabaler  contre  Brissot  le  jour  ou  celui-ci 
devait  parler  sur  le  Comite  autrichien,  5  juin,  1792.  Copie  conforme, 
A.  N.,  C  218,  no.  160,  118;  Tuetey,  iv,  439. 

Proces-verbal  des  seances  de  I'assemblee  electorale  du  departe- 
ment  d'Eure-et-Loir  a  Dreux,  2-9  septembre,  1792.   A.  N.,  C  178. 

Proces-verbal  de  I'assemblee  electorale  du  departement  du  Loiret 
a  Beaugency,  a  partir  du  2  septembre,  1792.  A.  N.,  C  179. 

Proces-verbal  de  I'assemblee  electorale  du  departement  de  I'Eure 
k  Bernay  a  partir  du  6  septembre,  1792.  A.  N.,  C  178. 

This  and  the  two  preceding  titles  deal  with  Brissot's  election  to  the 
Convention. 

Proposition  faite  par  Tun  des  membres  du  Comite  revolutionnaire 
des  48  sections  seant  a  la  Commune  sur  les  objets  suivant  .  .  .  que 
Ton  arrete  le  nomme  Raimond,  mulatre  confident  de  Brissot  et  de 
Petion  qui  doit  avoir  la  correspondance  secrete  de  Brissot,  relative  aux 
colonies  et  avec  I'Angleterre,  ainsi  que  celle  de  Petion,  rien  n'empe- 
chant  d'ailleurs  de  s'emparer  des  papiers  de  ces  deux  faux  manda- 
taires  chex  eux,  si  on  les  y  trouve,  31  mai,  1793.  Minute  non-signe, 
A.  N.,  BB3  80;  Tuetey,  viii,  2683. 

Extrait  des  rapports  et  declarations  re^us  au  Bureau  de  surveillance 
de  la  Police,  signalant  les  faits  suivants:  .  .  .  le  bruit  s'etait  repandu 
en  meme  temps  que,  le  30  mars,  Brissot  s'etait  presente  aux  barrieres 
et  qu'on  I'avait  empeche  de  sortir,  mais  que  le  Maire  avait  donne  des 
ordres  pour  que  ce  depute  eut  le  passage  libre,  ce  qui  mecontente  le 
public.  31  mars,  ler  avril,  1793.  Extrait  et  original  signe  (2  pieces), 
A.  N.,  AP^,  1470;  Tuetey,  ix,  497. 

Extrait  des  rapports  et  declarations  regus  au  Bureau  de  surveillance 
de  la  Police,  signalent  les  faits  suivants :  ...  II  existe,  dit-on,  les  lettres, 
ecrites  par  Dumouriez  a  Brissot,  recommandant  de  tacher  d'envoyer, 
en  qualite  de  commissaires  dans  la  Belgique,  Robespierre  et  Marat 
parceque  c'est  le  seul  moyen  de  s'en  defaire.  6  avril,  1793.  Extrait  et 
original  signe  (2  pieces).   A.  N.,  AF'^,  1470. 

Extrait  des  rapports  et  declarations  regus  au  Bureau  de  surveillance 
de  la  Police,  signalant  les  faits  suivants:  .  .  .  D'apres  certains  rap- 
ports Brissot  aurait  envoye  des  millions  a  Philadelphie,  cette  asser- 
tion se  trouve  confirmee  par  trois  temoins  qui,  le  30  avril,  ont  depose 
contre  Brissot  et  Guadet  au  Tribunel  revolutionnaire.  ler  mai,  1793. 
Copie,  A.  N.,  AF■^  1470;  Tuetey,  ix,  545. 

Declaration  du  sieur  Gillet,  secretaire  du  Comite  revolutionnaire 
de  la  section  de  I'Unite,  signalant  I'hotel  de  Patriote  HoUandais,  rue 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  459 

des  Moulins  comme  logeant  nombre  de  deputes,  entre  autres,  Petion, 
Brissot,  Guadet,  qui  out  quitte  leur  domicile  habituel  et  sont  venus  y 
chercher  un  refuge.  Sans  date  (2  juin,  1793).  Original  signe,  A.  N., 
BB3,  80  (dos.  3);  Tuetey,  viu,  2834. 

Denoneiation  centre  le  nomme  Bouquet,  frere  de  Guadet,  que  Ro- 
land a  nomme  regisseur  du  chateau  de  Saint  Cloud,  chez  lequel  reunis- 
saient  3  fois  par  semaine  Brissot,  Vergniaud,  Gensonne,  Petion, 
Buzot,  etc.,  et  contre  la  femme  de  Brissot  qui  a  loge  assez  longtemps 
dans  le  chateau  qui  demeure  rue  des  Ursulines,  a  Saint  Cloud,  et  chez 
laquelle  doivent  trouver  des  papiers  importants,  3  juin,  1793.  Origi- 
nal signe,  A.  N.,  BB^  72;  Tuetey,  vm,  3027. 

Lettre  ecrite  a  Brissot  par  son  frere  datee  du  5  aoilt,  1793.  A.  N., 
F\  4443,  no.  18. 

Contains  a  message  from  Genet. 

Arrete  du  Comite  de  sdre  e  generale,  applaudissant  aux  mesures 
de  surete  prises  par  le  comite  de  surveillance  et  de  salut  public,  a 
regard  de  la  femme  de  Jacques  Pierre  Brissot,  9  aout,  1793.  Extrait 
du  registre  des  arretes  generaux  du  Comite  de  siirete  generale.  A.N., 
AF",  *286;  Tuetey,  vui,  3265. 

Prov-ides  for  bringing  Madame  Brissot  before  the  Committee  of  General 
Security. 

Arrete  du  Comite  de  sHrete  generale,  decidant  que  la  citoyenne 
Dupont,  femme  de  Jacques  Pierre  Brissot,  restera  en  etat  d'arresta- 
tion  a  I'hotel  de  Necker,  rue  de  Richelieu,  9  aout,  1793.  Extrait  du 
registre  des  arretes  generaux  du  Comite  de  sHrete  generale.  A.  N., 
AF",  *286;  Tuetey,  viu,  3266. 

Notices  sur  Brissot,  A.  N.,  AA",  1509. 

Found  among  the  papers  pertaining  to  the  Colonial  Committee;  with- 
out date  or  signature.  It  consists  of  a  long  series  of  accusations  against 
Brissot  —  in  almost  every  case  followed  by  a  citation  from  the  Patriate 
Frangais  —  denouncing  him  as  responsible  for  the  troubles  in  the  colonies. 
See  appendix  C. 

A  ajouter  a  I'affaire  Brissot.    A.  N.,  F^  4443,  no.  18. 

Unsigned  and  undated.  It  consists  of  a  number  of  charges,  including 
complicity  with  Lafayette,  opposition  to  the  insurrection  of  August  10 
and  supfK)rt  of  the  civil  war  in  the  colonies. 

Petition  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Liberte  et  de  I'Egalite  de  Ver- 
sailles a  la  Convention  nationale,  reclamant  le  prompt  jugement  de 
Brissot,  et  de  ses  infames  complices,  retarde  par  on  ne  sait  quelle 
politique  timide  ou  lenteur  funeste,  le  peuple  entier  demandant  par 
leurs  voix  le  chatiment  de  ce  trattre  7  septembre,  1793.   Originaux 


460  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

signes  de  MM.  Charbonnier,  president  et  Bocquet  secretaire  (2 
pieces).  A.  N.,  F^  4443;  Tuetey;  viii,  3311. 

Rapport  de  I'observateur  La  Tour-La-Montagne,  annoncant  que 
.  .  .  Un  ouvrage  nouveau  de  Brissot  est  sous  presse  et  va  paraitre  au 
premier  jour;  c'est,  dit-on  le  testament  politique  de  cet  homme  dan- 
gereux;  le  libraire  Marat,  au  Palais  Royal,  cour  des  Fontaines,  s'est 
charge  de  I'impression  et  de  la  distribution  de  cet  ouvrage,  dont  on 
attend  sans  doute  un  grand  effet.  13  septembre,  1793.  Original  signe, 
A.  N.,  F\  36883;  Tuetey,  ix,  1296. 

Rapports  de  I'observateur  La  Tour-La-Montagne,  signalant  les 
faits  suivants:  La  citoyenne  Brissot  avec  son  fils  se  promene  dans 
Paris,  accompagnee  d'un  gendarme,  s'arrete  fort  souvent,  parle  a  beau- 
coup  de  monde,  et  le  gendarme  reste  a  distance.  Des  femmes,  ont  dit, 
en  murmurant:  *en  ferait-on  autant  pour  une  pauvre  marchande.* 
27  septembre,  1793.  Originaux  (2  pieces),  A.  N.,  F\  3688^;  Tuetey, 
IX,  1433. 

Lettre  de  M.  Fouquier-Tinville,  accusateur  public  du  Tribunal 
revolutionnaire,  au  president  de  la  Convention  nationale,  annoncant 
I'ecrou  a  la  Conciergerie  des  deputes  Brissot,  etc.  7  octobre,  1793. 
Original  signe,  A.  N.,  C  273,  no.  692;  Tuetey,  viii,  1729. 

Arrete  du  Comite  de  siirete  generale,  portant  que  le  concierge  de  la 
petite  maison  de  la  Force  recevra  la  nommee  Dupont,  femme  Brissot 
et  son  enfant.  22^  jour  du  ler  mois  de  I'an  IT  (13  octobre  1793).  Ex- 
trait  du  registre  des  mandats  d'amener  du  Comite  de  surete  generale. 
A.  N.,  AF",  *289;  Tuetey  viii,  3367. 

Recompense  nationale,  9  floreal,  an  IV.  A.N.,  F^,  570. 

The  record  of  the  pension  providing  for  Brissot's  wife  and  children. 

Inventaire  de  toutes  les  pieces  trouvees  sur  la  table  de  Brissot  lors- 
que  le  decret  qui  le  met  en  etat  d'arrestation  lui  a  ete  signifie  a  la 
maire.  A.  N.,  F^,  4443,  no.  18. 

B.    AfFAIBES   fiTRANoiRES    (PaRIs) 

Lenoir  au  Comte  de  Vergennes.  Le  4  mai,  1783,  Paris.  Afif.  etran- 
geres,  Angleterre,  542,  f.  183.   Original. 

Note  faite  a  la  hate.  Le  21  avril,  1783,  a  Londres.  AflF.  etrangeres, 
Angleterre,  542,  f.  79.   Minute. 

Compte  rendu  a  son  Excellence  Monsieur  le  comte  D'Hadmer  .  .  . 
par  le  Sr.  Receveur.  Le  22  mai,  1783,  a  Londres.  Aff.  etrangeres, 
Angleterre,  542  f.  278.  Minute. 

This  and  the  three  preceding  titles  concern  the  efforts  made  to  appre- 
hend the  authors  of  certain  libels,  with  which  Brissot  was  suspected  of 
having  some  connection. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  461 

Despatch  of  Chauvelin,  minister  plenipotentiary  of  France,  to 
Lebrun,  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  London.  29  September,  1792.  Aff. 
etrangeres.   Correspondance  politique,  vol.  582,  p.  255. 

A  commendation  of  the  note  drawn  up  by  Brissot  and  sent  by  the 
Legislative  Assembly  to  foreign  powers  shortly  after  the  10th  of  August. 

JuUien  fils,  au  Ministre  des  affaires  etrangeres.  Paris  le  19  fevrier, 
Tan  1"  de  I'egalite.  Aff.  etrangeres,  Angleterre,  582,  f .  182.   Original. 

A  report  from  a  yoimg  man  whom  Brissot  had  recommended  as  a  suit- 
able person  to  help  cultivate  in  England  a  public  opinion  favorable  to 
France. 

G.  Martin  a  Monsieur  Brissot.  31  dec.  1792.  Aff.  etrangeres,  An- 
gleterre, 29,  supplement,  f.  340.  Original.   Affaires  secretes. 

A  letter  giving  secret  information  as  to  the  supposed  intentions  of  Ger- 
many, Austria  and  Russia  toward  France.  Of  considerable  importance  in 
connection  with  Brissot's  attitude  toward  foreign  war.  The  writer  was 
probably  not  altogether  correctly  informed.   See  note,  p.  320. 

C.   District  and  Municipal  Archives 
AT  Moulin s  and  Gannat 

Registre  des  deliberations  prises  par  le  conseil  general  de  la  com- 
mune de  Moidins.   19  juin,  1  juillet,  1793. 

Deliberations  du  conseil  municipal  de  Gannat,  27  juin,  5  juillet, 
1793. 

Proces-verbal  du  conseil  general  du  district  de  Gannat,  juin  27, 
1793. 

This  and  the  two  preceding  titles  deal  with  events  at  Moulins  and 
Gannat  in  connection  with  Brissot's  arrest  and  imprisonment. 

D.  Manuscript  Department  of  the  Library  of 
Congress  at  Washington,  D.C. 

Letter  of  Brissot  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  Jan.  3,  1787.  In  Jefferson 
papers,  letters  from  T.  Jefferson,  1st  series,  vol.  2,  1786-87. 

A  letter  of  inquiry  on  the  public  funds  of  the  United  States.  See  Ap- 
pendix A. 

Letter  of  Brissot  to  Washington.  New  York,  Aug.  10,  1788.  In 
Washington  papers. 

A  letter  written  to  enclose  the  letter  of  introduction  to  Washington 
given  by  Lafayette  to  Brissot.  At  the  bottom  of  the  sheet  a  translation 
of  Brissot's  letter  has  been  made  in  another  hand. 


462  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Letter  of  Washington  to  Brissot.   Mount  Vernon,  Aug.  28,   1788. 
In  Washington  papers. 

An  acknowledgment  of  the  above. 
Letter  of  WiUiam  Short  to  Brissot.  Amsterdam,  Nov.  29,  1790. 
Letter  of  William  Short  to  Brissot.  Dec.  26,  1790. 

This  and  the  above  concern  information  which  Brissot  has  furnished 
Short  on  the  action  of  the  Assembly,  with  regard  to  the  duty  on  American 
tobacco.  Short  also  speaks  of  the  trade  m  oil.  The  two  letters,  particularly 
the  latter,  are  almost  illegible. 

Letter  of  William  Thornton  to  Brissot.    Philadelphia,  Nov.  29, 
1788.   In  the  Thornton  Papers. 

A  long  account  of  Thornton's  plans  for  the  transportation  of  American 
negroes  to  a  settlement  in  Africa,  at  Sierra  Leona. 

Letter  of  Brissot  to  Thornton.  Paris,  June  17, 1789.  In  the  Thorn- 
ton Papers. 

An  acknowledgment  of  the  above. 

Letter  of  Claviere,  honorary  President  of  the  SociStS  des  Amis  des 
Noirs,  to  Dr.  Thornton,  June  16,  1789.  In  the  Thornton  Papers. 

Claviere  writes  that  while  the  Amis  des  Noirs  approve  of  Dr.  Thorn- 
ton's scheme  m  the  abstract,  they  feel  that  public  opmion  is  not  yet  ripe 
for  action. 

E.   American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester, 
Massachusetts 

Daniel  Parker  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Havre  de  Grace,  June  2,  1788. 
Craigie  Papers,  iii.  111. 

Introducing  Brissot  and  commending  him  as  likely  to  be  useful  in  their 
plans  for  speculation. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  D.  Parker,  July  27,  1788.  C.  P.,  i,  4. 

Announcing  the  arrival  of  the  Cato  with  Brissot,  and  stating  his  in- 
tention of  interesting  him  in  American  speculations. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  D.  Parker  (copy).  New  York,  Oct.  29,  1788. 
C.  P.,  I,  22. 

This  and  following  all  deal  with  the  schemes  for  speciJation  in  the 
American  debt  and  in  Western  lands. 

William  Duer  to  D.  Parker,  Nov.  5,  1788.  C.  P.,  ii,  52. 
Andrew  Craigie  to  D.  Parker  (copy).  New  York,  Dec.  3,  1788. 
C.  P.,  I,  28. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  463 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Frangois  Dupont  (copy),  Feb.  2,  1789.  C.  P., 
1,25. 

FranQois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Philadelphia,  Feb.  9,  1789. 
C.  P.,  II,  1. 

Frangois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Feb.  9,  1789.  C.  P.,  ii,  2. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Frangois  Dupont  (copy),  Feb.  17,  1789.  C.  P., 
1,32. 

Frangois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Philadelphia,  Feb.  20,  1789. 
C.  P.,  II,  4. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Frangois  Dupont,  New  York,  Feb.  26,  1789. 
C.  P.,  I,  33. 

Frangois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  March  15,  1789.   C.  P.,  ii,  5. 

Andrew  Craigie  to   Frangois  Dupont  (copy).  New  York,  May  4, 

1789.  C.  P.,  I,  34. 

C.  Gore  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Boston,  May  5,  1789.   C.  P.,  ii,  89. 

Frangois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Philadelphia,  May  14,  1789. 
C.  P.,  II,  7. 

Frangois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Philadelphia,  July  15,  1789. 
C.  P.,  II,  10. 

Thomas  Porter  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Alexandria,  Va.,  May  5,  1790. 
C.  P.,  II,  143. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Joel  Barlow  (copy).  New  York,  May  24,  1790. 
C.  P.,  I,  60. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Joel  Barlow  (copy),  New  York,  June  16,  1790. 
C.  P.,  I,  64. 

Frangois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Philadelphia,  June  20,  1790. 
C.  P.,  II,  2. 

Frangois  Dupont  to  Andrew  Craigie,  Philadelphia,  July  4,  1790. 
C.  P.,  II,  9. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Frangois  Dupont  (copy).  New  York,  July  21, 

1790.  C.  P.,  I,  71. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Frangois  Dupont  (copy).  New  York,  Sept.  29, 
1790.   C.  P.,  I,  89. 

F.  New  York  Historical  Society:  Scioto  Papers 
1.  Letters  written  by  Brissot 

Brissot  to  Wm.  Duer,  Falmouth,  Jan.  15,  1789. 

This  and  the  following  have  to  do  with  the  speculation  in  which  he  was 
engaged  with  Craigie  and  Duer. 

Brissot  to  Wm.  Duer,  Paris,  Jan.  31,  1789. 
Brissot  to  Wm.  Duer,  April  28,  1789. 


464  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

2.  Letters  to  or  concerning  Brissot 
Francois  Dupont  to  Brissot,  Berlin,  July  26,  1783. 

Deals  with  the  business  affairs  of  the  Dupont  family. 
Account  of  Brissot  with  Andrew  Craigie,  dated  Dec.  3,  1788. 

In  connection  with  the  speculation. 
Frangois  Dupont  to  Brissot,  Paris,  Sept.  15,  1788. 

Announces  that  he  was  just  on  the  point  of  starting  for  America. 
Miers  Fisher  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  Nov.  25,  1788. 

This  letter  and  the  next  concern  Brissot's  departure  for  France. 

Miers  Fisher  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  Dec.  11,  1788. 
Miers  Fisher  to  Frangois  Dupont,  (undated). 

This  letter  and  the  next  deal  with  personal  matters  and  announce  the 
arrival  of  a  Frenchman  recommended  by  Brissot. 

Miers  Fisher  to  Frangois  Dupont,  Philadelphia,  Oct.  21,  1789. 
Andrew  Craigie  to  Brissot,  New  York,  Jan.  24,  1789. 

This  and  the  following  deal  with  the  speculation  in  the  American  debt. 

David  Maitland  to  Brissot,  London,  Feb.  10,  1789. 

Andrew  Craigie  to  Brissot,  June  13,  1789. 

Miers  Fisher  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  Nov.  12,  1789. 

Personal  matters. 
Joshua  Gilpin  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  April  28,  1790. 

This  and  the  next  two  letters  concern  paper  moulds  which  Brissot  was 
to  procure  for  Gilpin  in  France. 
Joshua  Gilpin  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  May  3,  1790. 
Joshua  Gilpin  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  Oct.  7,  1790. 
Miers  Fisher  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  May  1,  1790. 

This  and  the  following  concern  a  possibility  of  Brissot's  return  to 
America. 
Miers  Fisher  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  July,  5,  1790. 
Andrew  Craigie  to  Brissot,  May  24,  1791. 

This  and  the  following  deal  with  the  land  speculation  in  which  Brissot 
was  engaged. 
Thomas  Porter  to  Brissot,  Alexandria,  July  12,  1790.  •_ 
Andrew  Craigie  to  Brissot,  Aug.  31,  1790. 
Andrew  Craigie  to  Brissot,  New  York,  Sept.  12,  1790. 
Andrew  Craigie  to  Brissot,  New  York,  Oct.  6,  1790. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  465 

F.  de  Bayard  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  Nov.  2,  1790. 

An  expression  of  gratitude  for  kindness  sliown  him  by  Miers  Fisher,  to 
whom  he  had  been  recommended  by  Brissot. 

Miers  Fisher  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  Nov.  2,  1790. 

Introduces  Wm.  Temple  Franklin,  a  grandson  of  Benjamin  Franklin, 
who  is  to  execute  a  commission  for  Robert  Morris,  to  sell  land  in  New 
York  State. 

Thomas  Porter  to  Brissot,  New  York,  May  1,  1791. 

On  financial  matters. 
Jacob  Shoemaker  to  Brissot,  April  22,  1791. 

Comments  on  the  French  political  situation  and  denounces  slavery. 
Jacob  Shoemaker  to  Brissot  (undated). 

Same  subject  as  above. 
Jacob  Shoemaker  to  Brissot,  Sept.  9,  1791. 

On  the  state  of  public  credit. 
Joshua  Gilpin  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  March  15,  1791. 

On  business  connected  with  the  sending  of  paper  moulds. 
Jacob  Shoemaker  to  Brissot,  Nov.  20,  1791. 

Criticizes  Brissot's  Nouveau  Voyage. 

Letter  to  Brissot  (unsigned),  Bensalem,  Nov.  20,  1791. 

It  begins  "Cher  FrSre  et  Chere  Soeur,"  and  is  evidently  from  Frangois 
and  Nancy  Dupont.   On  family  matters. 

Letter  to  Brissot  (unsigned),  Philadelphia,  Nov.  28,  1791. 

It  begins  in  the  same  manner  as  the  above  and  is  evidently  from  the 
same  persons.  Informs  Brissot  of  the  criticism  which  his  Nouveau  Voyage 
has  aroused  in  America. 

De  Nancrede  to  Brissot,  Boston,  May  1,  1791. 

A  note  of  introduction. 
Miers  Fisher  to  FranQois  and  Annette  Dupont,  Dec.  11,  1791. 

On  family  matters. 
Jacob  Shoemaker  to  Brissot,  Philadelphia,  May  16,  1792 

Hopes  that  Brissot  has  not  taken  offense  at  the  criticism  on  his  book. 
Letter  to  Brissot  (unsigned),  Sept.  5,  1792. 

Expresses  desire  of  seeing  him  in  America. 


466  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Miers  Fisher  to  Anne  Dupont,  Nov.  11,  1793. 

Expresses  regret  that  he  can  render  him  no  assistance  on  account  of  the 
epidemic. 

Letter  to  Brissot  (unsigned),  Jan.  20,  1793. 

Comments  on  French  political  affairs. 

Miers  Fisher  to  Anne  Dupont,  Veuve  Aublay,  Philadelphia,  May 
28,  1797. 

Congratulates  her  on  being  at  home  again. 
Letter  addressed  to  Madame  Aublay  (unsigned  and  undated). 

Apparently  from  Madame  Brissot,  urging  her  to  return  to  France. 
Miers  Fisher  to  Anne  Dupont,  Bensalem,  Sept.  18  (year  ?). 

Condolences  on  the  death  of  her  brother-in-law. 

G.  Miscellaneous 

Proceedings  of  the  Committee  for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade. 
1787-1819.  3  vols.   British  Museum,  manuscripts,  21254-56. 

Contains  information  as  to  the  relations  between  Brissot  and  the  Amis 
des  Noirs  with  the  London  society. 

Lettre  de  M.  de  Comte  de  Mirabeau  a  M.  le  Cont"«  G°':  Paris,  30 
mai,  1785. 

Concerns  the  payment  of  the  work  on  the  Banque  de  St.  Charles.  The 
letter  is  the  property  of  the  late  M.  Paul  Arbaud,  of  Aix  in  Provence.  For 
a  copy  of  it  the  writer  is  indebted  to  Professor  F.  M.  Fling,  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Nebraska. 

Brissot,  notes  inedites  sur  I'Amerique. 

These  notes  are  in  Brissot's  own  hand,  unsigned  and  undated.  They 
are  the  property  of  M.  Charles  Vellay  of  Paris. 

Letter  of  Brissot  to  the  Convention  from  the  Abbaye.  July  24, 1793. 
Bib.  Nat.,  Fr.  nouv.  acq.,  vol.  307. 

Asking  for  a  hearing. 

Letter  of  Lord  Grenville  to  M.  le  Comte  de  Woronzow,  Dec.  20, 
1792.  In  correspondence  of  Lord  Grenville.  British  Museum,  ad- 
ditional Mss.  36814. 

Concerning  a  possible  alliance  of  England  with  Austria,  Prussia,  and 
Russia  against  France. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  467 

II.    PRINTED   MATTER 

A.  Brissot's  Own  Works 

Le  Pot-pourri,  etrennes  aux  gens  de  lettres  (par  Brissot  de  Warville 
et  N.  F.  Gaillard).  London,  1777. 

A  collection  of  satires  on  the  bar,  the  press,  the  theatre,  contemporary 
customs,  etc. ;  but  directed  chiefly  against  individual  men  of  letters,  who 
are  attacked  openly  by  name. 

Testament  politique  de  I'Angleterre.  Philadelphia  [Amsterdam], 
1780. 

Published  anonymously.  It  purports  to  be  an  original  production 
"found  among  the  papers  of  the  late  Lord  Littleton,"  but  from  the 
account  of  the  publication  given  in  Brissot's  memoirs  (i,  137),  it  was 
evidently  his  own  work.  A  satire  on  the  policy  of  England,  especially  with 
regard  to  her  colonies. 

Politick  Testament  van  England.  Amsterdam.   1781. 
A  Dutch  translation  of  the  preceding. 

Lettre  de  Brissot  (r'  fevrier,  1780)  a  M.  Doyen  sur  son  Histoire  de 
la  Ville  de  Chartres. 

Extract  from  the  Journal  EncyclopSdique.  April,  1780.  Noted  by  M. 
Perroud  in  his  edition  of  Brissot's  memoirs. 

Recherches  philosophiques  sur  le  droit  de  propriete  et  sur  le  vol 
consideres  dans  la  nature  et  dans  la  societe.  Chartres,  1780. 

Reprinted  in  vol.  vi  of  the  Bibliothegue  Phihsophique.  An  argument 
that  in  a  state  of  nature  there  is  no  such  thing  as  exclusive  property.  It 
was  made  the  basis  of  a  bitter  attack  on  Brissot  in  1792. 

Theorie  des  loix  criminelles.    2  vols.  Berlin,  1781. 

First  submitted  to  the  Economic  Society  of  Berne  in  competition  for 
a  prize  on  the  best  means  of  reforming  the  penal  code,  but  published 
without  waiting  the  result  of  the  competition.  Meanwhile  it  was  sub- 
mitted in  modified  form  for  a  prize  offered  by  the  Academy  of  Chalons- 
sur-Mame.  The  first  volume  treats  of  the  means  of  lessening  crime;  and 
of  the  reformation  of  the  criminal  law  with  a  view  to  making  the  punish- 
ment fit  the  crime  and  lessening  the  severity  of  the  punishment.  The 
second  volume  deals  with  the  reform  of  the  procedure  in  criminal  trials. 

Theorie  des  lois  criminelles,  .  .  .  nouvelle  edition  precedee  d'une 
lettre  sur  I'ouvrage  par  le  President  Dupaty  et  suivie  du  Sang  inno- 
cent venge  ou  Discours  sur  les  reparations  dues  aux  accuses  innocents. 
2  vols.  Paris,  1836. 

The  editor  frankly  acknowledges  making  notes  and  changes. 


468  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Les  Moyens  d'adoucir  le  rigueur  des  loix  penales  en  France,  sans 
nuire  a  la  surete  publique,  ou  Discours  couronnes  par  I'Academie  de 
Chalons-sur-Marne,  en  1780,  suivis  de  celui  qui  a  obtenu  I'accessit 
(par  J.  E.  D.  Bernard!)  et  des  extraits  de  quelques  autres  memoires 
presentes  a  la  meme  Academie.  Chalons-sur-Marne,  1781. 

A  slightly  modified  form  of  the  first  part  of  the  Theorie  des  lois  crimi- 
nelles.  Another  edition  with  considerable  additions  was  published  in  the 
Bibliotheque  philosophique,  vol.  vi. 

Le  Sang  innocent  venge,  ou  Discours  sur  les  reparations  dues  aux 
accusees  innocents.  Couronne  par  I'academie  des  sciences  et  belles- 
lettres  de  Chalons-sur-Marne,  le  25  aout,  1781.  Berlin  et  Paris,  1781. 

Reprinted  with  explanatory  notice  and  reply  to  the  attack  in  the  Mer- 
cure  of  August  3,  1782,  in  the  Bibliotlieque  philosophique,  vol.  vi.  Again 
reprinted  in  the  second  edition  of  the  Theorie  des  lois  criminelles,  1836, 
vol.  II. 

De  la  Suppression  de  la  peine  de  mort.  Ouvrage  couronne  par  I'aca- 
demie de  Chalons-sur-Marne,  en  1780,  reimprime  par  A.  Brissot. 
Lille,  1849. 

Consists  of  brief  extracts  from  the  preceding  work,  from  that  part  deal- 
ing with  the  suppression  of  the  death  penalty. 

Un  Independant  a  I'ordre  des  avocats,  sur  la  decadence  du  bar- 
reau  en  France.  Berlin,  1781. 

At  first  published  anonymously.  When  attributed  to  Brissot,  he  did 
not  deny  the  authorship.  Republished  with  Reflexions  Preliminaires, 
in  the  Bibliotheque  Philosophique,  vol.  vi. 

(Independance  des  Anglo-Americains  demontree  utile  a  la  Grande- 
Bretagne.  Lettres  extrait  du  Journal  d' Agriculture,  avril  et  mai,  1782. 
In  political  pamphlets.) 

Published  anonymously.  It  is  attributed  by  the  catalogue  of  the  Li- 
brary of  Congress  to  Brissot;  but  as  it  contains  criticism  on  Rousseau  not 
in  harmony  with  Brissot's  other  writings,  it  seems  hardly  possible  that  it 
can  be  his. 

De  la  Verite  ou  Meditations  sur  les  moyens  de  parvenir  a  la  verite 
dans  toutes  les  connoissances  humaines.  Neuchatel,  1782. 

A  consideration  of  the  different  kinds  of  reasoning  by  which  one  may 
arrive  at  the  truth,  and  of  the  kind  of  government  and  climate  best  suited 
to  the  search. 

Bibliotheque  philosophique  du  legislateur,  du  politique,  du  juris- 
consulte,  10  vols.   Berlin  et  Paris,  1782-85. 

Consists  of  reprints  of  several  of  Brissot's  earlier  works  {Moyens  de 
prevenir  les  crimes  en  France;  Le  Sang  innocent  vengi;  Recherches  philoso- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  469 

phiques  sur  le  droit  de  propriSte  et  sur  le  vol,  and  De  la  Decadence  bu  barreau 
franqois),  speeches,  essays,  memoirs,  codes  and  constitutions  from  all 
parts  of  Europe  and  from  the  United  States.  In  some  cases  they  are  given 
entire  and  sometimes  in  extracts  or  resumes. 

Lettres  philosophiques  sur  St.  Paul,  sur  sa  doctrine  politique, 
morale,  et  religieuse  et  sur  plusieurs  points  de  la  religion  chretienne 
consideres  politiquement.  Traduit  de  I'anglais  par  le  philosophe  de 
Ferney,  et  trouvees  dans  le  porte-feuille  de  M.  V.,  son  aneien  secre- 
taire. Neuchatel,  1783. 

An  argument  against  the  writings  of  St.  Paul  on  the  ground  that  they 
contain  contradictions,  improbable  stories  and  vicious  doctrines,  and  that 
they  show  a  spirit  of  marked  intolerance.  Among  these  vicious  doctrines 
Brissot  places  foremost  that  of  predestination  and  the  resurrection  of  the 
body. 

[The  same.]     Chartres,  1774.    (?) 
[The  same.]     Hamburg,  1782. 

Le  Philadelphien  a  Geneve  ou  Lettres  d'un  Americain  sur  la  demiere 
revolution  de  Geneve,  sa  constitution  nouvelle,  I'emigration  en  Irlande, 
etc.,  pouvant  servir  de  tableau  politique  de  Geneve,  jusqu'au  1784. 
Dublin,  1783. 

A  defense  of  the  democratic  party  in  Geneva. 

Correspondance  universelle  sur  ce  qui  interesse  le  bonheur  de 
I'homme  et  de  la  societe.  Vol.  i,  Neuchatel,  1783.  Vol.  ii,  Londres, 
1783. 

An  effort  to  bring  about  reform  under  color  of  a  correspondence  be- 
tween savants.  It  was  a  part  of  his  plan  to  include  translations  of  German 
works.   A  large  part  is  obviously  Brissot's  own  work. 

Lettres  sur  la  liberte  politique,  adressees  a  im  membre  de  la  Cham- 
bre  des  Communes  d'Angleterre,  sur  son  election  au  nombre  des  mem- 
bres  d'une  association  de  comte;  traduites  de  I'anglais  en  fran^ais  par 
le  R.  P.  de  Rose-Croix,  ex-Cordelier.  Avec  des  notes  de  Tabbe  Pacot, 
auteur  de  I'histoire  des  Pays-Bas,  theologien,  conseiller  auUque  etc. 
Seconde  edition,  Liege,  1783, 

Attributed  to  Brissot.  It  is  in  fact  a  translation  of  the  work  of  Dav-id 
Williams,  a  criticism  of  the  English  government  under  George  the  Third. 
The  notes,  which  contain  many  sarcastic  comments  on  the  French  govern- 
ment, are  probably  from  Brissot's  own  pen. 

Journal  du  Licee  (sic)  de  Londres,  ou  Tableau  de  I'etat  present  des 
sciences  et  des  arts  en  Angleterre.   2  tomes  en  1,   Paris,  1784, 

The  Journal  was  planned  to  include:  (1)  discoveries  in  physics,  chemis- 
try, and  anatomy;  (2)  discoveries  in  the  arts;  (3)  book  reviews;  (4)  cata- 


470  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

logue  of  novelties;  (5)  plays;  (6)  reports  of  judicial  decisions  and  all  that 
concerns  the  political  and  civil  constitution  of  England;  (7)  notices  of 
meetings  of  different  societies. 

Tableau  de  la  situation  actuelle  des  Anglais  dans  les  Indes  orientales, 
et  de  I'etat  de  I'lnde  en  general.  Paris,  1784. 

An  effort  to  present  an  impartial  picture  of  India,  and  to  create  a  public 
sentiment  which  should  demand  just  government  and  more  freedom  of 
trade.  A  most  opportune  subject,  as  England,  having  just  lost  her  Ameri- 
can colonies,  was  giving  more  attention  to  her  possessions  in  the  East. 

L'Autorite  legislative  de  Rome  aneantie  ou  Examen  rapide  de  I'his- 
toire  et  des  sources  du  droit  canonique.  Chartres,  1784. 

An  argument  to  show  that  the  legislative  authority  of  Rome  rested  on  a 
slight  foundation,  since  the  Holy  Scriptures  contained  almost  nothing  on 
dogma  or  discipline,  the  decrees  of  the  councils  were  not  infallible  and 
many  decrees  of  the  Popes  false,  and  the  authority  of  the  Fathers  often 
doubtful.   Published  anonymously. 

[The  same.]     1785. 

Rome  jugee  ou  I'autorite  legislative  du  pape  aneantie,  pour  servir 
de  reponse  aux  bulles  passees,  nouvelles  and  futures,  du  pape,  etc. 
Paris,  1791. 

A  new  edition  of  the  preceding,  published  at  the  time  of  the  formation 
of  the  civil  constitution  of  the  clergy  and  directed  especially  against  the 
Pope.   Brissot's  name  appears  in  this  edition. 
Un  Defenseur  du  peuple  a  I'Empereur  Joseph  11,  sur  son  reglement 
concernant  I'emigration,  ses  diverses  reformes,  etc.  Dublin,  1785. 
An  argument  in  favor  of  emigration.   Published  anonymously. 
Seconde  lettre  d'un  defenseur  du  peuple  a  I'Empereur  Joseph  II, 
sur  son  reglement  concernant  I'emigration,  et  principalement  sur  la 
revolte  des  Valaques,  ou  Ton  discute  a  fond  le  droit  de  revolte  du 
peuple.   Dublin,  1785. 

Mackintosh,  W.  Voyages  en  Europe,  en  Asie,  et  en  Afrique  .  .  . 
commencees  en  1777  et  finis  en  1781  .  .  .  suivis  des  Voyages  du  Colonel 
Capper  dans  les  Indes  ...  en  1779.  (Traduits  par  Brissot.)  2  vols. 
Londres  et  Paris,  1786. 

Brissot's  name  does  not  appear  on  the  title-page.  In  the  preface  he  gives 
his  idea  of  the  functions  of  a  translator  as  follows:  "II  y  avait  des  repe- 
titions, je  les  ai  elaguees;  des  longueurs,  j"ai  abrege;  des  idees  peu  claires, 
j'ai  eclarci;  des  faussetes,  j'ai  les  ai  refutes  dans  les  notes;  en  im  mot  j'ai 
tUche  de  conserver  dans  cet  ouvrage  tout  ce  qui  pouvait  6tre  instructif, 
interessant,  amusant,  pour  les  FranQais." 
[The  same.]     1792. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  471 

Examen  critique  des  voyages  dans  TAmerique  septentrionale,  de 
M.  !e  Marquis  de  Chastellux;  ou  lettre  a  M.  le  Marquis  de  Chastellux, 
dans  laquelle  on  refute  principalement  ses  opinions  sur  les  Quakers, 
sur  les  negres,  sur  le  peuple  et  sur  I'homme.  Londres,  1786. 

A  defense  of  the  morality  and  religious  and  political  dogmas  of  the 
Quakers  and  of  the  ability  and  rights  of  the  negroes. 

A  translation  of  the  same.  Philadelphia,  1788. 

Mon  mot  aux  academiciens.   1786. 

In  his  Bibliographie  de  Brissot  (Memoires  i,  xxxii)  M.  Perroud  says: 
"Je  n'ai  pu  retoumer  cette  brochure  en  faveur  du  magnetisme  animal  et 
du  somnambulisme;  mais  elle  a  sftrement  existe,  car  les  Memoires  secrets 
du  18  juillet  1786  I'annoncent,  sous  ce  litre:  Un  mot  a  I'oreille  des  acade- 
miciens et  disent  que  c 'est  un  ecrit '  vigoureux.' " 

Denoneiation  au  public  d'un  nouveau  projet  d'agiotage  ou  Lettre 

a  M.  le  Comte  de  S sur  un  nouveau  projet  de  Compagnie  d'as- 

surances  contre  les  incendies  a  Paris,  sur  ses  inconveniens,  et  en 
general  sur  les  inconveniens  des  compagnies  par  actions.  Londres, 
1786. 

Brissot's  name  does  not  appear  on  the  title-page.  His  argument  is 
based  on  the  following  groimds:  (1)  Fires  are  less  frequent  at  Paris  than 
at  London,  whose  example  in  the  matter  of  insurance  it  is  proposed  to 
follow;  (2)  the  premiums  at  which  the  company  proposes  to  insm-e  would 
not  make  it  worth  while;  (3)  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  owner  of  a  house 
to  apportion  the  expense  among  his  tenants;  (4)  the  city  government  will 
feel  less  responsibility  in  preventing  fires;  (5)  claims  for  damages  will  give 
rise  to  disputes;  (6)  and  in  the  case  of  this  particular  company  the  pro- 
moters hope  to  make  a  monopoly  of  it  and  by  connecting  it  with  a  water 
company  in  which  they  are  already  interested,  they  hope  to  raise  the 
price  of  the  stock  of  both  companies. 

Seconde  lettre  contre  la  Compagnie  d'assurance,  pour  les  incendies 
a  Paris  et  contre  d'agiotage  en  general,  adressee  a  IVLVI.  Perrier  et 
Compagnie.   Londres,  1786. 

The  title-page  bears  this  quotation  from  Rousseau:  "On  commence  par 
mettre  le  feu  a  la  maison  pour  faire  jouer  les  pompes."  Chiefly  an  attack 
on  M.  Perrier,  the  author  of  the  prospectus  of  the  proposed  company,  and 
a  reply  to  his  argument  for  connecting  the  fire  insurance  company  with 
the  water  company. 

Lettres  philosophiques  et  politiques  sur  I'histoire  de  I'Angleterre 
depuis  son  origine  jusqu'a  nos  jours  traduits  de  I'anglais.  (Brissot 
translator.)   2  vols.  London,  1786. 

In  the  Biographie  Universelle  of  Michaud  it  is  stated  that  these  are  the 
famous  letters  attributed  to  Lord  Lyttleton.  This  is  a  mistake.  They  are 


472  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

instead  a  translation  of  A  History  of  England  in  a  Series  of  Letters  from  a 
Nobleman  to  his  Son,  by  Oliver  Goldsmith,  published  anonymously  in 
1774.  The  notes  are  by  Brissot.  According  to  the  preface  he  allowed  him- 
self considerable  liberty  in  making  the  translation.    The  translation  has 
been  attributed  to  Madame  Brissot,  but  Brissot  says  nothing  to  indicate 
that  it  was  not  his  own  work. 
De  la  France  et  des  Etats-Unis,  ou  de  rimportance  de  la  revolution 
de  TAmerique  pour  le  bonheur  de  la  France,  des  rapports  de  ce  roy- 
aume  et  des  Etats-Unis,  des  avantages  reciproques  qu'ils  peuvent  re- 
tirer  de  leurs  liaisons  de  commerce,  et  enfin  la  situation  actuelle  de 
Etats-Unis,  par  Etienne  Claviere  et  J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville.  Londres, 
1787. 

An  argument  against  the  mercantile  theory  and  for  greater  freedom 
of  trade,  especially  for  closer  commercial  relations  between  France  and 
the  United  States;  on  the  ground  that  the  United  States  needed  the 
manufacturers  of  France,  and  France  the  natural  products  of  the  United 
States.  The  work  is  dedicated  to  the  American  Congress  and  to  the 
friends  of  the  United  States  in  both  hemispheres. 
[The  same.]  Reprinted  in  1791  as  vol.  in  of  the  Novveau  Voyage 
dans  les  Etats-Unis. 

Considerations  on  the  relative  situation  of  France  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  translated  from  the  French.  London,  1788. 
A  translation  of  the  above. 
Commerce  of  America  with  Europe.   London,  1794. 

Another  translation  of  the  above.   Published  as  the  second  volume  of 
the  translation  of  the  Nouveau  Voyage. 

[The  same.]    A  Dutch  translation  of  the  above.    Amsterdam, 
1794. 

Published  as  the  second  volume  of  a  Dutch  translation  of  the  Nouveau 
Voyage. 
Lettre  a  I'auteur  du  Mercure  politique  par  les  auteurs  du  traite 
intitule  De  la  France  et  les  Etats-Unis.  Bouillon,  1787. 

A  defense  in  answer  to  certain  charges  that  had  been  made  in  the  Mer- 
cure Politique  of  June  30,  1787,  regarding  statements  contained  in  De  la 
France  et  des  Etats-Unis,  relative  to  Warren  Hastings.   Brissot  evidently 
believed  in  his  guilt. 
Point  de  banqueroute  ou  Lettre  a  un  creancier  de  I'Etat,  sur  I'im- 
possibilite  de  la  banqueroute  nationale  et  sur  les  moyens  de  ramener 
le  credit  et  la  paix.  Londres,  1787. 

Published  anonymously.   An  argument  against  a  declaration  of  bank- 
ruptcy on  the  following  grounds:  (1)  That  it  would  degrade  not  only  the 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  473 

sovereign  and  the  ministers,  but  also  the  entire  nation  before  the  world; 

(2)  England  was  worse  off  than  France,  but  did  not  declare  bankruptcy; 

(3)  there  would  be  no  confidence  in  the  treaties  of  peace  and  of  commerce 
made  by  France;  it  would  injure  both  foreigners  and  Frenchman  who  had 
lent  to  the  state;  (5)  there  would  be  a  general  upset  to  financial  conditions; 
and  (6)  a  bad  moral  effect  would  result. 

[  The  same.]     London,  1787. 

Point  de  banqueroute  ou  Lettres  a  un  creancier  de  I'Etat,  sur  les 
consequences  de  la  revocation  des  deux  impots,  relativement  a  la 
dette  nationale.   Seconde  partie.   Paris,  1787. 

A  defense  of  Parlement  for  its  refusal  to  register  certain  proposed  taxes, 
and  a  defense  of  France  for  taking  the  side  of  the  republican  party  in 
Holland. 

Point  de  banqueroute  ou  Lettres  a  un  creancier  de  I'Etat,  sur  I'im- 
possibilite  de  la  banqueroute  nationale,  et  sur  les  moyens  de  ramener 
le  credit  et  la  paix.  Nouvelle  edition,  augmentee  de  trois  autres  lettres 
sur  la  dette  nationale  consideree  relativement  a  la  revocation  des  deux 
mip6ts,  a  la  guerre  de  Holland  et  a  celle  de  Turquie.  Londres,  Oct. 
1787. 

A  republication  in  a  single  work  of  the  two  preceding  pamphlets. 

[The  same.]     London,  1788. 

Observations  d'un  republicain  sur  les  diflferens  systemes  de  I'ad- 
ministrations  provinciales,  particulierement  sur  ceux  de  MM.  Turgot 
et  Necker,  et  sur  le  bien  qu'on  pent  en  esperer  dans  les  gouvernemens 
monarchiques.  Lausanne,  1788. 

A  severe  criticism  of  the  plans  both  of  Necker  and  of  Turgot,  on  the 
ground  that  they  did  not  go  to  the  root  of  the  matter,  and  a  frank  state- 
ment of  disbelief  in  the  efl5cacy  of  reform  under  a  monarchy. 

[The  same.]     Paris,  1789. 

Lettre  a  I'Empereur  sur  I'atrocite  des  supplices  qu'il  a  substitues 
comme  adoucissement  a  la  peine  de  mort.   Bruxelles,  1787. 

Brissot's  name  does  not  appear  on  the  title-page.  He  praises  the  em- 
peror for  having  abolished  the  death  penalty,  but  censures  him  for  having 
substituted  that  of  branding. 

Reponse  a  une  critique  des  lettres  d'un  cultivateur  americain,  des 
Quakers,  etc.,  faite  par  I'auteur  anonyme  des  Recherches  sur  les 
£tats-Unis.   April,  1788. 

The  critic  whom  Brissot  attacks  was  M.  Mazzei,  an  Italian  who  had 
lately  visited  the  United  States.  A  defense  of  Crdvecoeur,  particularly  of 
his  attitude  toward  the  negroes  and  the  Quakers. 


474  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Discours  sur  la  necessite  d'etablir  a  Paris  une  societe  pour  concourir 
avec  celle  de  Londres,  a  I'abolition  de  la  traite  et  de  I'esclavage  des 
negres;  prononcee  le  19  fevrier,  1788,  dans  une  societe  de  quelques 
amis  rassembles  a  Paris,  a  la  priere  du  comite  de  Londres. 
This  address,  though  not  signed,  is  undoubtedly  by  Brissot. 

A  translation  of  the  same.  In  Clarkson,  Thomas,  An  essay  on  the 
impolicy  of  the  African  slave  trade.  Philadelphia,  1788. 

Le  Moniteur.  [Par  Condorcet,  J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville  et  Claviere.l 
1788. 

Published  anonymously.  The  catalogue  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  at 
Paris,  and  the  article  on  Brissot  in  the  Biographic  Universelle,  by  Michaud, 
attribute  it  to  Brissot,  Claviere,  and  Condorcet.  Its  point  of  view  does 
not,  however,  seem  in  harmony  with  the  general  attitude  of  these  men. 
See  Perroud,  Memoires  de  Brissot,  i,  xlvi. 

Le  Patriote  Frangais,  ou  Journal  libre  impartial  et  national,  par 
une  societe  de  citoyens.   16  mars,  1789. 
The  prospectus  of  the  Journal. 

Plan  de  conduite  pour  les  deputes  du  peuple  aux  fitats  Generaux, 
1789.  [Paris,  1789.] 

A  discussion,  in  much  detail,  of  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  States- 
General.  Its  most  significant  features  are  its  support  of  monarchy  and  its 
argument  that  the  business  of  the  States-General  does  not  include  the 
making  of  a  constitution. 

Discours  prononce  par  M.  Brissot  de  Warville,  a  I'election  du  dis- 
trict de  la  rue  des  Filles-Saint-Thomas,  le  21  avril,  1789.  [Paris,  1789.] 

An  argument  that  the  electors  should  be  instructed  on  the  following 
points  in  order  that  they  in  turn  might  instruct  the  representatives: 
that  they  make  a  declaration  of  rights;  that  they  consider  the  means  of 
establishing  a  free  constitution;  that  they  provide  provisionally  for  the 
urgent  needs  of  the  state. 

Trois  mots  aux  Parisiens  sur  la  necessite  de  publir  les  noms  des 
candidats. 

M.  Perroud,  in  his  Bibliographie  de  Brissot  {MSmoirs  de  Brissot,  i,  xxxiii), 
notes:  "Petite  brochure  qui  parut  en  mai  1789,  quelques  jours  avant 
I'election  de  Paris." 

Precis  adresse  a  I'assemblee  generale  des  electeurs  de  Paris,  pour 
servir  a  la  redaction  du  cahier  des  doleances  de  cette  ville.  [Paris, 
1789.] 

An  appeal  to  the  electors  of  Paris  to  adopt  some  system  in  drawing  up 
their  statement  of  grievances,  to  confine  themselves  to  essentials  and  not 
to  wander  into  useless  details. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  475 

Observations  sur  la  necessite  d'etablir  dans  les  differents  districts 
et  dans  I'assemblee  generale  des  electeurs  de  Paris,  des  comites  de  cor- 
respondance  avec  les  deputes  de  Paris  aux  Etats-Generaux,  suivies 
d'un  recit  de  quelques  faits  arrives  dans  I'election  du  District-des- 
Filles-Saint-Thomas.    1789. 

Brissot's  argument  was  to  the  effect  that  by  keeping  in  existence 
some  machinery  for  concerted  action  the  people  of  Paris  would  be  better 
able  to  exert  influence  upon  the  States-General. 

Le  Patriote  Frangais.  [No.  1.  Paris,  6  mai,  1789.] 

An  account  of  the  opening  of  the  States-General  and  a  discussion  of  the 
cahier  of  the  third  estate  at  Paris. 

Lettre  de  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  aux  souscripteurs  de  journal  in- 
titule "Le  Patriote  Fran^ais."  [12  mai,  1789.] 

An  explanation  of  the  delay  in  the  appearance  of  the  Patriote  Frajiqais. 

Scrutin  de  I'election  de  Paris  ou  Lettre  de  M.  B.  de  W.  a  un  electeur, 
mai,  1789. 

Noted  by  M.  Perroud  in  his  Bibliographie  de  Brissot. 

Memoire  aux  Etats-Generaux  sur  la  necessite  de  rendre  des  ce  mo- 
ment la  presse  libre,  et  surtout  pour  les  joumaux  politiques.   1789. 

A  plea  for  freedom  of  the  press  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  natural  right. 

No.  1"  L'Ombre  de  J.  P.  Brissot  aux  legislateurs  frangais,  sur  la 
liberte  de  la  presse  ou  Extrait  fidele  d'un  imprime  ayant  pour  titre 
*'  Memoire  aux  Etats-Generaux  sur  la  nScessiti  de  rendre  des  ce  moment 
la  presse  libre,''  par  J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville.  Public  avec  quelques 
notes  par  T.  Dethier  de  I'Ourthe.  Paris,  an  vir. 

An  effort  to  turn  to  practical  use  the  earlier  writings  of  the  Revolution. 

Reflexions  sur  I'admission  aux  Etats-Generaux  des  deputes  de  Saint 
Domingue.   [Paris,  1789.] 

An  argument  against  the  admission  of  the  deputies  on  the  ground  that 
the  number  was  too  large,  that  their  election  was  neither  free  nor  valid, 
and  that  their  admission  would  injure  the  cause  of  the  mulattoes. 

Projet  d'une  declaration  des  droits  de  la  Commune  pour  servir  au 
plan  de  municipalite  de  la  ville  de  Paris. 

Noted  by  Perroud  in  his  Bibliographie  de  Brissot. 

Discours  prononce  au  district  des  Filles-Saint-Thomas,  le  21  juillet, 
1789,  sur  la  constitution  municipale  a  former  dans  la  ville  de  Paris. 

Given  in  part  in  Lacroix,  Ades  de  la  Commune  de  Paris. 


476  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Le  Patriote  Frangais,  journal  libre,  impartial  et  national  par  une 
societe  de  citoyens,  et  dirige  par  J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville.     8  vols., 
28  juiUet,  1789-2  juin,  1793. 
See  chapter  iv. 

Motifs  des  commissaires  pour  adopter  le  plan  de  municipalite  qu'ils 
ont  presente  a  I'assemblee  generale  des  representants  de  la  Commune, 
lus  a  I'assemblee  generale  .  .  .  suivis  du  projet  du  plan  de  la  munici- 
palite.  Paris,  aout,  1789. 

An  explanation  of  the  plan  for  a  city  government. 

Adresse  de  I'assemblee  generale  des  representants  de  la  commune  de 
Paris  presentee  a  I'assemblee  nationale.   10  oct.,  1789. 

This  address,  which  was  drawn  up  by  Brissot,  was  occasioned  by  the 
transfer  of  the  National  Assembly  to  Paris  after  the  events  of  October  5 
and  6. 

Observations  sur  le  plan  de  la  municipalite  de  Paris  suivies  du  plan 
original  et  d'une  declaration  des  droits  des  municipalites.  Paris,  [15 
nov.,  1789]. 

A  defense  against  the  accusation  of  giving  the  municipality  too  much 
power. 

Opinion  de  J.  P.  Brissot  de  Warville  sur  le  question  de  savoir  si 
Paris  sera  le  centre  d'un  departement  de  dix-huit  lieues  de  diametre 
ou  s'il  formera  seul  un  departement  en  lui  joignant  une  banlieue  de 
deux  ou  trois  lieues.  Paris,  Dec,  1789. 

An  argument  in  favor  of  the  latter  alternative  on  account  of  the  unique 
character  of  the  city. 

Memoire  sur  les  noirs  de  I'Amerique  septentrionale  lu  a  la  Societe 
des  Amis  des  Noirs  le  3  Janvier,  1790.  Paris,  1790. 

An  account  of  his  observations  during  his  recent  journey  to  America, 
dealing  with  what  had  been  done  (1)  against  slavery;  (2)  against  the  im- 
portation of  slaves;  (3)  for  freedom;  (4)  for  the  education  of  the  negro. 

Adresse  a  I'Assemblee  Nationale  pour  I'abolition  de  la  traite  des 
Noirs,  par  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs.  5  fevrier,  1790. 

The  address  appears  to  have  been  the  work  of  Brissot,  at  that  time 
president  of  the  society. 

Discours  sur  la  rarete  du  numeraire  et  sur  les  moyens  d'y  remedier, 
prononce  a  I'assemblee  generale  des  represantants  de  la  Commune  de 
Paris,  le  10  fevrier,  1790.   Paris,  1790. 

An  attack  on  the  methods  of  the  Caisse  d  'escompte  and  an  argument  for 
its  more  rigid  control  by  the  government. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  477 

Motion  sur  la  necessite  de  circonscrire  la  vente  des  biens  ecclesias- 
tiques  aux  municipalites  dans  leur  territoire  etc.;  presentee  a  I'as- 
semblee  generale  des  representants  de  la  Commune  de  Paris.  22  mai, 
1790.   Paris,  1790. 

An  argument  to  show  that  the  municipalities  were  to  get  an  miduly 
large  benefit  from  the  imrestricted  sale  to  them  of  church  lands. 

Rapport  sur  la  lettre  de  M.  de  Bourges  au  Comite  de  Constitution, 
concernant  I'affaire  des  juifs,  fait  par  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  a  I'as- 
semblee  generale  des  representants  de  la  Commune  de  Paris,  le  29  mai, 
1790.   [Paris,  1790.] 

An  argimient  in  favor  of  giving  the  rights  of  active  citizens  to  the  Jews. 

Discours  sur  la  vente  des  biens  ecclesiastiques  et  sur  les  necessite 
de  I'attribuer,  pour  Paris,  au  seul  bureau  de  ville,  a  I'exclusion  des 
sections  etc.;  prononce  a  I'assemblee  generale  des  representants  de  la 
Commune  de  Paris,  le  14  juin,  1790.   [Paris,  1790.] 

A  plea  for  centralization  in  city  government. 

Rapport  dans  I'affaire  de  MM.  D'Hosier  et  Petit-Jean,  lu  aux 
Comites  de  recherches  de  I'Asemblee  nationale  et  de  la  municipalite 
de  Paris,  le  29  juillet,  1790.   Paris,  1790. 

A  defense  of  the  alleged  despotic  action  of  the  committee. 

Another  edition  with  a  covering  title  containing  the  words,  "Pro- 
jet  de  contre-revolution  par  les  somnambuHstes  ou  rapport,"  etc. 

A  Stanislas  Clermont  ...  sur  le  diatribe  de  ce  dernier  contre  les 
Comites  de  recherches  et  sur  son  apologie  de  Madame  Jtunilhac  et  des 
illumines.   Paris,  1790. 

This  and  the  following,  a  defense  of  the  committee  apropos  of  the  same 
subject  as  the  above. 

Replique  de  .  .  .  a  Stanislas  Clermont,  concernant  ses  nouvelles 
observations  sur  les  Comite  de  recherches,  sur  les  causes  des  troubles, 
les  folliculaires,  le  long  Parliament  d'Angleterre,  M.  Necker,  etc. 
Paris,  1790. 

Lettres  a  M.  le  Chevalier  de  Pange  sur  sa  brochure  intitulee  "Re- 
flexions sur  la  delation  et  sur  le  Comite  de  recherches."    Paris,  1790. 
A  d^ense  of  the  Comite  de  recherches. 

Discours  prononcee  a  la  section  de  la  Bibliotheque  dans  son  assem- 
blee  generale  du  2-i  octobre,  1790,  sur  la  question  du  renvoi  des  mi- 
nistres.   [Paris,  1790.] 

An  appeal  to  the  people  to  demand  the  dismissal  of  the  ministry. 


478  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Lettre  de  J.  P.  Brissot  a  M.  Barnave,  sur  ses  rapports  concernant 
les  colonies,  les  decrets  qui  les  ont  suivis,  leurs  consequences  fatales; 
sur  sa  conduite  dans  le  cours  de  la  Revolution;  sur  le  caractere  des 
vrais  democrates;  sur  les  bases  de  la  Constitution,  les  obstacles  qui 
s'opposent  a  son  achevement,  la  necessite  de  la  terminer  promptement. 
Paris,  1790. 

An  attack  on  Barnave's  colonial  policy  and  an  argument  to  the  effect 
that  the  troubles  of  the  colonies  were  due  to  the  laws  of  March  and  Octo- 
ber, 1790,  and  that  unless  these  laws  were  changed  the  colonies  would  be- 
come independent,  or  would  pass  under  the  government  of  some  foreign 
nation. 

Reflexions  sur  le  nouveau  decret  rendu  pour  le  Martinique  et  les 
colonies  le  29  novembre,  1790,  pour  servir  de  suite  a  la  lettre  a  M. 
Barnave.   [Paris,  1790.] 

A  criticism  of  the  decree  which  provided  for  sending  out  to  the  colonies 
commissioners  and  troops. 

Reflexions  sur  I'etat  de  la  Societe  des  electeurs  patriotes,  sur  ses 
travaux,  sur  les  formes  propres  a  faire  de  bonnes  elections  .  .  .  lues  a 
I'assemblee  de  cette  societe  dans  la  seance  du  21  decembre,  1790. 
Paris,  1790. 

A  discussion  of  the  best  methods  of  voting. 

Liberte  de  la  presse,  precis  pour  J.  P.  Brissot  contre  M.  Bexon, 
se  disant  representant  de  la  municipalite  de  Remiremont.  Paris,  1790. 

A  defense  of  the  freedom  of  the  press  apropos  of  the  accusations  of 
libel  brought  against  Brissot  by  the  municipality  of  Remiremont. 

J.  P.  Brissot  au  libelliste,  Louis-Marthe-Gouy. 

A  denial  of  the  allegations  of  Gouy  and  a  promise  to  answer  them. 

Replique  de  J.  P.  Brissot  a  la  "Premiere  et  derniere  Lettre  de  Louis- 
Marthe-Gouy,"  defenseur  de  la  traite  des  noirs  et  de  I'esclavage. 
Paris,  1791. 

A  defense  of  his  own  policy  with  regard  to  the  slave  trade  and  a  most 
vituperative  attack  on  Gouy. 

Affaire  de  Tobago.  Reponse  de  J.  P.  Brissot  aux  lettres  inserees 
dans  le  Journal  de  Paris,  par  MM.  Dillon  .  .  .  et  Henrion  [de 
Flozelles]  .  .  .  sur  les  reclamations  des  planteurs  de  Tobago.  [Paris, 
1791.] 

Concerns  the  decision  of  a  court  by  virtue  of  which  certain  planters, 
whom  these  writers  defended,  escaped  paying  their  debts. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  479 

Nouveau  Voyage  dans  les  Etats-Unis  de  TAmerique  septentrionale 
{fait  en  1788].  3  vols.    Paris,  1791. 

Volume  III  consists  of  the  work  previously  published  by  Claviere  and 
Brissot:  "De  la  France  et  des  Etats-Unis." 

New  travels  in  the  United  States  of  America  performed  in  1788. 
Translated  from  the  French.  Dublin,  1792. 
A  translation  of  the  above. 
[The  same.]  2  vols.   London,  1792. 

[The  same.]  2  vols.    London,  1794. 

This  edition  contains  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  Brissot,  said  to  be  by  Joel 
Barlow,  who  translated  the  Voyage  from  the  French.  It  includes  a  por- 
trait of  Brissot  and  an  appendix.  M.  Perroud,  in  his  Bibliographie  de 
Brissot  (MSmoires,  i,  xxxviii,  notes:  "Cette  vie,  traduite  separement  en 
anglais,  a  ete  publiee  en  1798.  Note  de  Villenave  dans  I'article  de  Biog. 
unit,  de  Beaulieu." 

[The  same.]  Boston,  1797. 

Nieuwe  Reize  in  de  Vereenigde  Staaten  van  Noord-Amerika.  .  .  . 
Uit  het  Fransch  vertaald  en  met  eenige  ophelderingen  en  bijvoegselen 
vermeerderd.  3  deel.   Amsterdam.   [1794.] 

Reise  durch  die  vereinigten  Staaten  von  Nord  Amerika  im  Jahre 
1788  aus  dem  Franzosischen  mit  der  kurtzen  Lebensgeschichte  des 
Verfassers  und  mit  einigen  Erlauterungen  und  Zusatzen  vermehrt 
von  Theophil  Frederik  Ehrmann.  Durkheim  an  der  Haard,  1792. 

Nya  resa  genom  Nord-Americanska  fristaterna  ar  1788.  Fran 
f ranska  originalet  sammendregen  .  .  .  af  Johan  R.  Forster.  Of  wersatt 
fran  tyskan.   Stockholm,  1799. 

Discours  sur  la  question  de  savoir  si  le  roi  peut  etre  juge,  prononc6  a 
I'assemblee  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution,  dans  la  seance  du  10  juillet, 
1791.   Paris.   [1791.] 

An  argument  in  favor  of  holding  the  king  responsible  for  his  misdeeds. 
Made  at  the  time  of  the  republican  crisis  after  the  flight  to  Varennes. 
One  of  Brissot's  most  noted  speeches. 

A  Discourse  upon  the  question  whether  the  king  shall  be  tried. 
Translated  by  P.  G.  de  Nancrede.  First  American  edition,  Boston, 
1791. 

A  translation  of  the  above. 

Discours  prononce  par  M.  Brissot  a  I'assemblee  des  Amis  de  la  Con- 
stitution le  10  juillet,  1791,  ou  Tableau  frappant  de  la  situation  actuelle 
des  puissances  de  I'Europe.   [Paris,  1791.] 

An  extract  from  the  above  address. 


480  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Recueil  de  quelques  ecrits  principal ement  extraits  du  ^'Patriote 
Frangais,"  relatif  a  la  discussion  du  parti  a  prendre  pour  le  roi,  et  de 
la  question  sur  le  republicanisme  et  la  monarchic.   Paris,  1791, 

A  collection  of  several  important  articles  which  had  previously  ap- 
peared in  the  Patriate  Frangais. 

Reponse  de  J.  P.  Brissot  an  second  Chant  du  Coq.    [Paris,  1791.] 
A  denunciation  as  libelous  of  a  poster  in  which  he  had  been  assailed. 

Discours  sur  les  conventions,  prononce  a  la  societe  des  Amis  de  la 
Constitution,  seante  aux  Jacobins,  le  8  aout,  1791.   [Paris,  1791.] 

A  plea  for  fixed,  periodic  conventions  which  should  be  independent  of 
the  executive  and  legislative  branches  of  the  government. 

Reponse  de  Jaques  Pierre  Brissot  a  tons  les  libellistes  qui  ont 
attaque  et  attaquent  sa  vie  passee.   Paris,  1791. 

An  account  of  his  early  life  and  a  defense  of  the  charges  made  against 
him  in  connection  with  his  candidacy  for  election  to  the  Legislative  As- 
sembly. 

The  life  of  J.  P.  Brissot,  deputy  from  Eure  and  Loire  to  the  na- 
tional convention,  written  by  himself  and  translated  from  the  French. 
London,  1794. 

A  translation  of  the  above. 

Aux  Electeurs  du  departement  de  Paris. 

Noted  by  M.  Perroud  in  his  Bibliographie  de  Brissot  in  connection  with 
the  elections  to  the  States-General.  But  it  appears  rather  to  be  the 
pamphlet  published  in  connection  with  the  Theveneau  de  Morande  con- 
troversy.  Aug.  26,  1791. 

Replique  a  Charles  Theveneau  Morande.  Paris,  1791. 
A  reply  to  further  attacks.   See  the  preceding  work. 

Dernier  Mot  de  J.  P.  Brissot  sur  un  nouveau  libelle  de  Morande 
et  sur  les  autres  libelles,  adresse  aux  electeurs  de  Paris.   [Paris,  1791.] 

Discours  sur  la  necessite  de  maintenir  le  decret  rendu  le  15  mai,  1791, 
en  faveur  des  hommes  de  couleur  libres,  prononce  le  12  septembre,  1791, 
a  la  seance  de  la  societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution.  [Paris,  1791.] 

A  protest  against  any  reconsideration  of  the  decrees  in  favor  of  the 
mulattoes. 

Discours  sur  I'utilite  des  societes  patriotiques  et  populaires,  sur  la 
necessite  de  les  maintenir  et  de  les  multiplier  par-tout,  prononce 
le  28  septembre,  1791,  a  la  seance  de  la  societe  des  Amis  de  la  Consti- 
tution. [Paris,  1791.] 

Emphasizes  the  need  of  such  societies  to  keep  watch  over  the  admin- 
istration and  to  discuss  and  prepare  the  way  for  good  laws. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  481 

Discours  sur  1 'organisation  des  comites,  destine  a  etre  prononce  a 
I'Assemblee  nationale  le  12  octobre,  1791,  prononce  aux  Jacobins  le 
14  octobre.   Paris,  1791. 

An  argument  in  favor  of  having  as  few  committees  as  possible. 

Discours  sur  les  emigrations  et  sur  la  situation  de  la  France  rela- 
tivement  aux  puissances  etrangeres,  prononce  le  20  octobre,  1791,  a 
I'Assemblee  nationale.   Paris,  1791. 

An  argument  that  in  meting  out  punishment  to  the  Emigres  a  distinc- 
tion should  be  made  between  the  princes  and  the  public  functionaries  on 
the  one  hand,  and  private  citizens  on  the  other. 

Discours  sur  un  projet  de  decret  relatif  a  la  revolte  des  Noirs,  pro- 
nonce a  I'Assemblee  nationale,  le  30  octobre,  1791.   Paris,  1791. 

An  expression  of  doubt  as  to  the  reported  revolt  and  a  plea  for  the  re- 
arming of  the  mulattoes. 

Discours  sur  la  necessite  de  suspendre  momentanement  le  paiement 
des  liquidations  au-dessus  le  3,000  1.  avant  d'emettre  de  nouveaux  as- 
signats,  et  sin*  les  finances  en  general,  prononce  a  I'Assemblee  nationale 
dans  la  seance  du  24  novembre,  1791,  [Paris,  1791]. 

A  criticism  of  the  loose  management  of  the  finances  and  a  plea  for  the 
issue  of  assignats  of  small  denominations. 

Discours  sur  les  causes  des  troubles  de  Saint-Domingue,  prononce 
a  la  seance  du  ler  decembre,  1791.   Paris,  [1791]. 

An  argument  that  the  revolt  was  caused  by  the  mulattoes  and  negroes 
being  deprived  of  their  rights. 

Projet  de  decret,  relatif  a  I'emploi  des  troupes  destinees  pour  Saint- 
Domingue.  Paris,  7  dec.,  1791.  [Paris,  1792.] 

A  plea  for  sending  to  the  colonies  commissioners  and  troops  who  were 
to  be  subject  only  to  the  orders  of  these  commissioners,  that  is  to  say  that 
they  could  not  be  used  by  the  whites  against  the  negroes  and  mulattoes. 

Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution  seante  aux  Jacobins  a  Paris. 
Discours  sur  la  necessite  de  declarer  la  guerre  aux  princes  allemands 
qui  protegent  les  6migrSs,  prononce  le  16  decembre  a  la  Societe,  [Paris, 
1791.] 

One  of  Brissot's  speeches  in  the  controversy  with  Robespierre  on  the 
war  question. 

Discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot,  depute,  sur  les  dispositions  des  puissances 
etrangeres  relativement  a  la  France,  et  sur  les  preparatifs  de  guerre 
ordonnes  par  le  Roi,  prononce  a  I'Assemblee  nationale,  le  29  decembre, 
1791.   [Paris,  1791.] 

An  argument  in  favor  of  war. 


482  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution,  seante  aux  Jacobins  a  Paris. 
Second  discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot,  depute,  sur  la  necessite  de  faire  la 
guerre  aux  princes  allemands,  prononce  a  la  societe  dans  le  seance  du 
vendredi  30  decembre,  1791.   [Paris,  1791.] 

Another  of  his  speeches  in  the  controversy  with  Robespierre. 

Lettre  de  J.  P.  Brissot  a  M.  Camus,  depute  a  I'Assemblee  nationale, 
sur  differents  abus  de  I'administration  actuelle  des  finances,  suivie 
d'une  denonciation  concernant  la  meme  administration.  Paris, 
1792. 

Brissot  attacks  especially  a  claim  supported  by  Camus  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  to  a  dot  promised  by  Louis  XV  to  the  daughter  of  the  regent. 

Discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot,  depute  de  Paris,  sur  la  necessite  d'exiger 
une  satisfaction  de  I'Empereur  et  de  rompre  le  traite  du  premier  mai, 
1756,  du  17  Janvier,  1792.   [Paris,  1792.] 
A  vehement  argument  in  favor  of  war. 

Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution  seante  aux  Jacobins  a  Paris. 
Troisieme  discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot  ...  sur  la  necessite  de  la  guerre, 
prononce  a  la  Societe  du  20  Janvier,  1792.  [Paris,  1792.] 

Discours  sur  la  necessite  politique  de  revoquer  le  decret  du  24  sep- 
tembre,  1791,  pour  mettre  fin  aux  troubles  de  Saint-Domingue;  pro- 
nonce a  I'Assemblee  nationale,  le  2  mars,  1792.  [Paris,  1792.] 

An  argument  that  the  decree  of  September,  1791,  taking  away  the  civil 
rights  of  the  mulattoes,  and  not  the  decree  of  May,  1791,  which  gave  them 
these  rights,  was  the  cause  of  the  revolt. 

Discours  sur  I'office  de  1'  Empereur  du  17  fevrier,  1792,  et  denon- 
ciation contre  M.  Delessart,  ministre  des  Affaires  etrangeres,  pro- 
nonce a  I'Assemblee  nationale,  le  10  mars,  1792.   (Paris,  1792.] 
A  denunciation  of  the  Emperor  as  well  as  of  M.  Delessart. 

Discours  de  MM.  Brissot  et  Guadet,  deputes  a  I'Assemblee  nationale, 
prononces  a  la  seance  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution,  le 
25  avril,  1792.   [Paris,  1792.] 

Chiefly  an  attack  on  Robespierre. 

Discours  sur  la  denonciation  contre  le  Comite  autrichien,  et  contre 
M.  Montmorin  ci-devant  ministre  des  Affaires  etrangeres  prononce  a 
I'Assemblee  nationale,  a  la  seance  du  23  mai,  1792.  [Paris,  1792.J 

An  attack  on  the  government  with  regard  to  its  policy  in  foreign  affairs 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  vmder  the  influence  of  persons  really  devoted  to 
Austrian  and  anti-revolutionary  interests. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  483 

Lettres  de  J.  P.  Brissot  a  M.  Dumouriez,  ministre  de  la  guerre 
[16,  17  juin,  1792].   [Paris,  1792.] 

A  bitter  denunciation  of  Dumouriez  apropos  of  his  part  in  causing  the 
fall  of  the  Girondin  ministry. 

Discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot,  .  .  .  sur  les  causes  des  dangers  de  la 
patrie  et  sur  les  mesures  a  prendre;  prononee  le  9  juillet,  1792.  [Paris, 
1792.] 

An  argument  in  favor  of  pronouncing  the  country  in  danger,  decreeing 
the  responsibility  of  the  ministers,  punishing  the  generals  who  try  to  con- 
trol the  assembly,  and  selling  the  property  of  the  emigres. 

Opinion  de  J.  P.  Brissot,  .  .  .  sur  les  mesures  de  police  generale 
proposees  par  M.  Gensonne,  prononee  le  25  juillet,  1792.  [Paris, 
1792.] 

An  argument  in  support  of  the  measures  proposed  by  Gensonne  but  less 
hostile  to  the  king  than  some  of  Brissot's  previous  speeches. 

Opinion  de  J.  P.  Brissot,  .  .  .  sur  le  marche  a  suivre  en  examinant 
la  question  de  la  decheance  et  les  autres  mesures,  prononcee  le  26 
juillet,  1792.   [Paris,  1792.] 

This  speech,  like  the  preceding,  rather  more  moderate  than  that  of 
July  9. 

Discours  de  J.  P.  Brissot  .  .  .  sur  les  denonciations  relatives  au 
general  Lafayette,  prononee  le  10  aout,  1792.   [Paris,  1792.] 

The  date  was  really  August  8.  Brissot  fully  supports  the  attack  on 
Lafayette. 

Projet  de  declaration  de  I'Assemblee  nationale  aux  puissances 
etrangeres  redige  par  J.  P.  Brissot.   [Paris,  1792.] 

A  protest  against  breaking  off  all  relations  with  France  on  the  part  of 
neutral  governments  on  account  of  the  suspension  of  the  king. 

Rapport  fait  au  nom  de  la  Commission  extraordinaire,  des  Comites 
diplomatique  et  militaire,  le  20  aoiit  1792,  sur  le  licenciement  des 
regiments  suisses,  au  service  de  la  France,  par  J.  P.  Brissot.  [Paris, 
1792.] 

An  argument  based  chiefly  on  the  events  of  August  10  in  favor  of  dis- 
banding the  Swiss  regiments. 

Rapport  fait  k  la  Convention  nationale  au  nom  de  la  Commission 
extraordinaire  et  du  Comite  diplomatique  sur  les  reclamations  des 
cantons  de  Berne  et  d'Uri,  relativement  a  I'evacuation  des  defiles  de 
Porentruy  le  3  octobre,  1792.   Paris,  [1792]. 

An  argument  that  the  French  had  a  right  to  occupy  these  passes. 


484  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Rapport  et  projet  de  decret  concemant  I'introduction,  dans  la  ville 
de  Geneve,  de  1600  Suisses  des  troupes  de  Berne  et  de  Zurich,  presentes 
au  nom  de  Comite  diplomatique  le  16  octobre,  1792.  Paris,  [1792]. 

An  argument  that  such  introduction  of  troops  was  a  violation  of  existing 
treaties. 

A  tous  les  Republicains  de  France,  sur  la  Societe  des  Jacobins  de 
Paris.    Paris,  1792. 

Written  at  the  time  of  his  explusion  from  the  Jacobin  Club;  a  defense 
of  his  policy  and  an  attack  upon  the  majority  of  the  Jacobins  as  a  party  of 
disorganizers. 

[The  same.]     Reprinted  by  the  Patriate  Franqais,  29  octobre,  1792. 

[The  same.]  Reprinted  with  pamphlets  of  Kersaint  and  Lan- 
thenas.   (November,  1792.) 

Rapport  fait  a  la  Convention  nationale,  au  nom  du  Comite  diplo- 
matique, sur  la  negotiation  entre  Geneve  et  la  Republique  de  France, 
et  sur  la  transaction  du  2  novembre,  1792,  le  21  novembre.  Paris, 
1792. 

An  argument  to  show  that  Geneva  had  violated  the  guaranteed  neu- 
trality. 

Discours  du  citoyen  Brissot  a  la  Convention  nationale  concernant  la 
Republique  de  Geneve,  extrait  du  Monileur  du  22  novembre,  1792. 
[Paris,  1792.] 

An  extract  from  the  above  report. 

Dernier  mot  sur  Clootz.  In  Reponses  au  Prussian  Clootz,  par  Ro- 
land, Kersaint,  Guadet  et  Brissot.   [Paris,  1792.] 
A  defense  against  accusations  of  federalism. 

Discours  sur  le  proces  de  Louis,  prononce  a  la  Convention  nationale, 
le  ler  Janvier,  1793.  [Paris,  1793.] 

An  argument  for  an  appeal  to  the  primary  assembly. 

Rapport  fait  au  nom  du  Comite  de  defense  generale,  sur  les  disposi- 
tions du  gouvernement  britannique  envers  de  France,  et  sur  les  mesures 
a  prendre,  prononce  a  la  Convention  nationale,  dans  sa  seance  du  12 
Janvier,  1793.    Paris,  [1793]. 

A  denunciation  of  England's  treatment  of  France  and  an  argument  in 
favor  of  war. 

Report  of  the  Committee  of  General  Defense  on  the  dispositions  of 
the  British  government  towards  France,  and  on  the  measures  to  be 
taken.    Addressed  to  the  National  Convention  of  France.  .  .  .  Also 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  485 

the  second  report  on  a  declaration  of  a  war  with  England.  ...  To 
which  is  added  the  Protests  entered  upon  the  journals  of  the  Lords 
and  House  of  Parliament  against  a  war  with  France,  etc.  London, 
1793. 

Includes  a  translation  of  the  preceding  report. 

Rapport  sur  les  hostilites  du  roi  d'Angleterre  et  du  Stathouder  des 
Provinces-Unis,  et  sur  la  necessite  de  declarer  que  la  Republic  frangaise 
est  en  guerre  avec  eux,  an  nom  du  Comite  de  defense  generale.  [Paris, 
1793.] 

An  argument  that  war  was  now  inevitable,  and  that  it  was  the  desire, 
not  of  the  English  people,  but  of  the  English  ministry. 

Expose  de  la  conduite  de  la  nation  frangaise  envers  le  peuple  anglais 
et  des  motifs  qui  ont  amene  la  rupture  entre  la  Republique  frangaise  et 
le  roi  d'Angleterre,  precede  du  rapport  prononce  par  Brissot  au  nom 
de  Comite  diplomatique  et  du  discours  de  Ducos,  12  Janvier,  fevrier, 
1793.   [Paris,]  1793. 

Includes  the  Rapport  fait  au  nom  de  Comite  de  defense  generale  and  the 
Rapport  sur  les  hostilites  du  Roi  d'Angleterre. 

J.  P.  Brissot,  sur  la  denonciation  de  Robespierre,  et  sur  I'adresse 
pretee  aux  48  sections  de  Paris.   [Paris,  1793.] 

A  defense  against  the  change  of  being  allied  with  Dumouriez  and 
Morande  and  of  being  suborned  by  Pitt. 

A  ses  commettans  sur  la  situation  de  la  Convention  nationale,  sur 
I'influence  des  anarchistes  et  les  maux  qu'elle  a  causee,  sur  la  necessite 
d'aneantir  cette  influence  pour  sauver  la  RepubHque.     Paris,  [1793]. 

An  attack  on  the  Mountain  and  a  defense  of  his  own  position. 

The  Anarchy  and  horrors  of  France  displayed.  By  a  member  of  the 
Convention.  Extracts  from  J.  P.  Brissot's  address  to  his  constituents, 
with  a  preface.   [London,  1793.] 

A  translation  of  part  of  the  above. 

J.  P.  Brissot  to  his  constituents  on  the  situation  of  the  national  con- 
vention.  London, 1794. 

Another  translation  of  the  above.  A  portion  of  the  speech  is  also  trans- 
lated in  an  appendix  to  Burke's  preface  to  the  address. 

Memoires  de  Brissot  .  .  .  sur  ses  contemporains,  et  la  Revolution 
frangaise,  publics  par  son  fils  [A.  Brissot]  avec  des  notes  et  des  eclair- 
cissements  historiques,  par  M.  F.  de  Montrol.  4  vols;  vols,  i-ii,  Paris, 
1830;  vols,  iii-iv,  Paris,  1832. 

See  below. 


486  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

[The  same.]    Notes  by  M.  de  Leseure.    Paris,  1877. 
Scarcely  more  than  a  reprint  of  the  preceding. 

[The  same.]     Memoires  publies  avec  Etude  critique  et  notes  par 
M.  Perroud.    2  vols.    Paris,    [1910]. 

When  M.  Perroud  undertook  his  new  edition,  the  Montrol  edition  had 
long  since  been  regarded  with  suspicion,  some  critics  even  holding  that  it 
was  entirely  apocryphal.  But  M.  Perroud,  in  his  Etude  Critique,  proves 
beyond  doubt  that  Brissot  did  leave  memoirs,  but  that  the  edition  of  M. 
Montrol  consists  largely  of  interpolations.  As  M.  Montrol  seems  to  have 
agreed  with  the  publishers  beforehand  to  produce  four  volumes,  it  was  not 
strange  that  he  had  to  resort  to  padding.  Of  the  1300  pages  of  the  edition 
of  1830  M.  Perroud  finds  that  600  pages  were  taken  from  other  works, 
though  for  the  most  part  from  those  of  Brissot  himself;  that  another  100 
pages  are  suspicious,  and  that  still  another  100  consist  of  letters,  written 
or  received  by  Brissot.  What  remains  forms  the  basis  of  this  new  edition. 
It  consists  of  two  parts:  the  first  covering  the  period  of  his  childhood  and 
youth;  the  second  consisting  of  his  account  of  his  arrest  and  two  projets 
de  defense.  Even  though  the  gap  includes  the  most  important  period  of 
his  life  and  the  time  of  his  greatest  political  activity,  the  memoirs  as  they 
stand,  thus  critically  edited,  furnish  one  of  the  most  valuable  sources  for 
a  study  of  his  career. 

Correspondance  et  papiers  precedes  d'un  avertissement  et  d'un 
notice  sur  sa  vie  par  M.  Perroud.  Paris,  1912. 

See  above,  preliminary  note  under  manuscript  material. 


B.  Controversial  Matter 

As  indicated  by  the  heading  a  large  portion  of  the  following  material 
is  intensely  partisan,  and  was  written  in  the  heat  of  the  conflict.  For 
the  most  part  it  concerns  either  Brissot's  character  or  some  phase  of 
his  policy  and  involves  both  his  uprightness  as  a  man  and  his  wisdom 
as  a  politician. 

1.  Pamphlets,  Addresses,  Contemporary  Criticisms 

Baillie.  L  Anti-Brissot;  par  un  petit  blanc  de  Saint-Domingue. 
[Paris.] 

An  attack  on  Brissot's  colonial  policy. 

Basire,  Claude.  A.  J.  P.  Brissot.   [1792.] 

Accounts  for  the  whereabouts  of  a  certain  letter  for  which  Brissot  had 
charged  him  with  being  responsible. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  487 

Bergasse,  Nicholas.  Declaration  .  .  .  au  sujet  d'un  article  insere  dans 
le  journal  Patriote  de  M.  Brissot  de  Warville.   [Paris,  1790.] 

Concerns  an  alleged  plot  to  convey  the  king  to  Rouen.  Bergasse  denied 
that  he  had  any  part  in  such  a  plot,  even  if  it  existed. 

Bertrand  de  Moleville,  Antoine  Frangois.  Histoire  de  la  Revolu- 
tion de  France.   14  vols.   Paris,  1801-1803. 

Contains  material  on  the  relations  between  the  author  and  Brissot,  who 
were  political  enemies.  Written  from  the  point  of  view  of  an  aristocrat. 
Intensely  partisan. 

Observations,  adressees  a  TAssemblee  nationale.  .  .  sur  les  dis- 

cours  prononces  par  IVIM.  Gensonne  et  Brissot  dans  la  seance  du  23 
mai.  [Paris,  1792.] 

Reply  to  accusations  made  against  the  Austrian  committee. 

Bonne-Carrere,  Guillaume.  Expose  de  la  conduite  de  Brissot 
depuis  le  commencement  de  la  Revolution,  jusqu'  a  ce  jour  [5  septem- 
bre,  anil].    [Paris,  1794.] 

A  defense  of  the  part  he  had  played  in  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  bitter 
enemy  of  Brissot. 

Burke,  Edmund.  Preface  to  the  address  of  M.  Brissot  to  his  con- 
stituents, translated  by  the  late  William  Burke,  Esq.,  1794;  vol.  iv.  In 
Burke's  works,  9  vols.    Boston,  1839. 

Burke  asserts  that  the  address  of  Brissot  is  simply  a  condemnation  of 
the  Revolution  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  revolutionists  themselves. 

Camus,  Armand  Gaston.  Lettre  de  .  .  .  a  M.  Brissot,  26  mars,  1791. 
Paris,  1791. 

A  protest  to  the  effect  that  Brissot,  without  sufficient  proof,  had  made 
accusations  in  regard  to  the  management  of  the  finances. 

Chabot,  Frangois.   A.  J.  P.  Brissot.   [Paris,  1792.] 

An  accusation  that  Brissot  tried  to  hinder  the  Revolution  of  August  10, 
and  on  the  other  hand  did  nothing  to  hinder  the  massacres  of  September. 

Champagneux,  L.  A.,  ed.  CEuvres  de  MM.  J.  Ph.  Roland,  .  .  .  pre- 
cedees  d'un  discours  preliminaire.   3  vols.  Paris,  year  viii. 

The  preface  gives  some  details  about  Brissot's  manuscripts,  but  as  they 
are  based  on  hearsay  evidence,  they  are  to  be  taken  with  caution. 

Chastellux,  Marquis  Frangois  Jean  de.  Voyage  .  .  .  dans  I'Amerique 
septentrionale,  dans  les  annees  1780,  1781,  et  1782.  2  vols.  Paris, 
1786. 

A  work  which,  on  account  of  its  criticism  of  the  Quakers  and  negroes, 
was  sharply  criticized  by  Brissot. 


488  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Claviere,  fitienne.  Adresse  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs,  k 
TAssemblee  nationale,  .  .  .  dans  laquelle  on  approfondit  des  relations 
politiques  et  commerciales  entre  la  metropole  et  les  colonies,  etc. 
Paris,  1791. 

A  statement  of  the  principles  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs  and  a  plea  for  the 
extension  of  civil  rights  to  the  mulattoes. 

Clermont-Tonnerre,  C*^®  Stanislas,  Marie  Adelaide  de.  Reflexions 
sur  I'ouvrage  intitule  "Projet  de  contre-revolution  par  les  somnam- 
bulistes,  ou  rapport  dans  I'afPaire  de  MM.  Dhosier  et  Petit-Jean,  lu 
aux  comites  de  recherches  de  I'Assemblee  nationale  et  de  la  municipalite 
de  Paris,  le  29  juillet,  1790,  par  J.  P.  Brissot."  Paris,  1790. 

An  attack  on  the  Comity  des  Recherches  of  the  Commune  of  Paris,  on  the 
ground  that  its  methods  savored  too  much  of  the  old  regime. 

Nouvelles  observations  sur  les  comites  des  recherches.   Paris. 

[1790.] 

A  reply  to  Brissot's  answer  to  the  above. 

Sur  le  derniere  replique  de  J.  P.  Brissot,  .  .  .  de  14  octobre, 

1790.  Paris,  1790. 

A  continuation  of  the  same  controversy  as  the  above. 

Courtois,  Edme  Bonaventure.  Lettre  a  I'auteur  du  Patriote  Fran- 
qais  [sigue:  Courtois,  commandant  de  la  garde  nationale  d'Arcis-sur- 
Aube,  20  aout,  1791].   [Paris,  1791.] 

A  letter  approving  the  attitude  of  Brissot  in  the  crisis  of  July,  1791. 

Desmoulins,  Camille.  Jean  Pierre  Brissot  demasque  [1  fevrier, 
1792].   [Paris,  1792.] 

An  arraignment  of  Brissot's  whole  life,  up  to  1792,  with  special  emphasis 
on  his  war  policy. 

Societe  des  amis  de  la  liberte  et  de  I'egalite  seante  aux  ci-devant 

Jacobins,  Saint  Honore,  a  Paris.    Fragment  de  I'histoire  secrete  de  la 
Revolution.  [Paris,  19  mai,  1793.] 

An  attack  on  Brissot  and  his  political  adherents,  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  advocates  of  royalty  and  federalism. 

Histoire  des  Brissotins  ou  Fragment  de  I'histoire  secrete  de  la 

Revolution  et  des   six   premiers   mois  de   la   Republique.     [Paris,] 
1793. 

The  same  work  as  the  preceding,  printed  by  order  of  the  Jacobin  so- 
ciety. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  489 

Desmoulins,  Camille.  The  History  of  the  Brissotins,  or  part  of  the 
history  of  the  Revolution,  and  of  the  first  six  months  of  the  Repub- 
lic, in  answer  to  Brissot's  address  to  his  constituents.  Printed  at  Paris 
by  order  of  the  Jacobin  Club,  and  dispersed  by  their  corresponding 
clubs.    London,  1794. 

A  translation  of  the  preceding. 

(Euvres  recueillies  et  publiees  d'apres  les  textes  originaux  et 

precedees  d'une  etude  biographique  et  litteraire,  par  J.  Claretie. 
2  vols.   Paris,  1874. 

Duluc,  Perisse.  Lettre  de  .  .  .  a  M.  Brissot,  auteur  du  Patriote 
Frangais,  sur  les  assignats.   Paris,  1790. 

An  answer  to  Brissot's  objection  that  his  (Duluc's)  former  opposition  to 
the  assignats  prevented  his  being  an  efficient  member  of  the  committee 
charged  with  their  emission. 

Dumouriez,  C.  F.  P.,  General.  Sur  les  troubles  des  colonies  en  re- 
futation des  deux  discours  de  M.  Brissot  ...  1*''  et  3""®  decembre, 
1791.   Paris,  1791. 

Dutrone  La  Couture,  Jacques  Frangois.  Adresse  aux  Frangois, 
contre  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs. 

Garran  de  Coulon,  J.  P.  Rapport  sur  les  troubles  de  Saint-Domingue. 
4  vols.   [Paris,  1797-99.] 

Favorable  to  the  cause  of  the  negro. 

Genlis,  Madame  de.  Precis  de  la  conduite  de  .  .  .  depuis  la  Revo- 
lution, suivi  d'une  lettre  a  M.  de  Chartres  et  de  reflexions  sur  la 
critique.    Hambourg,  1796. 

Contains  an  account  of  Madame  de  Genlis's  relation  to  Brissot  and  to 
his  wdfe,  which  does  not  agree  with  Brissot's  own  account.  Madame  de 
Genlis  is,  however,  not  to  be  trusted. 

Gouy  d'Arcy,  Jean  Louis  Marthe  de.  Premiere  et  derniere  lettre 
de  .  .  .  a  Jean  Pierre  Brissot,  auteur  d'un  journal  intitule  Patriote 
Frangais.  Paris,  le  10  Janvier,  1791.   [Paris,  1791.] 

A  somewhat  coarse  invective  against  Brissot,  on  account  of  his  advo- 
cacy of  the  negro  and  the  mulatto.  Gouy  d'Arcy  was  one  of  the  leading 
deputies  who  represented  Santo  Domingo. 

[The  same.]     Another  edition.  Paris,  1791. 

Fragment  d'une  lettre    de  L.    M.  de   Gouy,  .  .  .  adresse  a 

ses  commettans  ou  Seconde  fustigation  de  J.  P.  Brissot.  [Paris, 
1791.] 

On  the  same  subject  as  the  above. 


490  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Kovalevsky,  Massimo.  I  Dispacci  degli  ambasciatori  veneti  alia 
corte  de  Francia  durante  la  rivoluzione.  Turino,  1895. 

Valuable  observations  as  to  state  of  public  opinion,  as  seen  by  ambas- 
sadors in  little  sympathy  with  it. 

Louvet  de  Couvray,  Jean  Baptiste.  Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Consti- 
tution. Diseours  sur  la  guerre,  prononcee  a  la  Societe,  le  9  Janvier, 
1792.   [Paris.] 

A  speech  in  ardent  support  of  Brissot's  war  policy. 

Malassis,  A.  P.  ed.  Ecrits  et  pamphlets  de  Rivarol,  recueillis  pour 
le  premiere  fois,  et  annotes  par  A.  P.  Malassis.  Paris,  1877. 

Contains  what  purports  to  be  a  RSponse  de  M.  le  Baron  de  Grim,  charge 
des  affaires  de  S.  M.  llmperateur  de  Russie  a  Paris,  a  la  lettre  de  M.  Chasse- 
hmtj  de  Volney,  in  which  occurs  the  accusation  that  Brissot  was  a  police 
spy  in  the  pay  of  M.  Lenoir.   Not  reliable. 

Mallet  du  Pan,  J.  Considerations  sur  la  nature  de  la  Revolution  de 
la  France,  et  sur  les  causes  qui  en  prolongent  la  duree.  Londres  et 
Bruxelles.   [1793.] 

Contains  criticisnxs  of  Brissot  and  the  Girondins  from  a  hostile  point  of 
view. 

Manuel,  L.  P.  La  Police  de  Paris  devoilee.  2  vols.  Paris,  I'an  second 
delaliberte.   [1791.] 

Marivaux,  J.  C.  Martin  de.  Lettre  de  .  .  .  a  I'auteur  de  la  diatribe 
intitulee  "Lettre  de  J.  P.  Brissot  a  M.  Barnave,  sur  ses  rapports  con- 
cernant  les  colonies,  31  decembre,  1790."    [Paris,  1790.] 

An  attack  on  Brissot,  not  merely  on  account  of  his  colonial  policy,  but 
also  for  alleged  monarchical  sentiments. 

Mirabeau,  Comte  de.  De  la  Caisse  d'escompte.    [Paris?]  1785. 

L' Analyse  des  papiers  anglais.    102  nos.  4  vols.     1787-88. 

Served  as  an  organ  for  the  Amis  des  Noirs.  "  Le  litre  de  cette  feuille," 
dit  Brissot,  qui  eut  fait  iin  des  redadeurs,  "etait  un  marque  a  la  favenr 
duquel  Mirabeau  repandait  des  veritSs  hardies." 

Montmorin,  Saint  Hereme  C.  A.  M.  de.  Observations  de  M.  de 
Montmorin  adressees  a  1'  Assemblee  nationale,  sur  les  diseours  pro- 
nonces  par  M.  Gensonne  et  Brissot,  dans  la  seance  du  23  mai,  1792. 
[Paris.] 

A  denial  of  the  accusation  brought  against  him  and  a  defense  of  his 
policy. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  491 

Moreau  de  Saint-Mery,  M.  L.  E.  Considerations  presentees  aux 
vrais  amis  du  repos  et  du  bonheur  de  la  France  a  I'occasion  des  nouveax 
mouvemens  de  quelques  soi-disant  Amis  des  Noirs.  Paris,  1791. 

No  title-page.  Another  copy  has  title-page  with  above  and  "Parist 
1791."  and  one  extra  page  at  the  end,  with  a  brief  justification  of  Moreau  de 
Saint-Mery's  personal  conduct. 

M  .  .  .  J.   Avis  d'un  depute  a  ses  collegues;  sur  le  diseours  de  M. 
Brissot,  lu  a  la  seance  du  30  octobre,  1791,  concernant  une  revolte 
de  negres  a  Saint-Domingue,  signed  J.  M.  .  .  .  1'.  Paris,  1791. 
A  criticism  of  Brissot's  colonial  policy. 
Paganel,    Pierre.    Essa    historique    et  critique  sur  la  Revolution 
frauQaise.  3  vols.  Paris,  1815. 

Written  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  member  of  the  Plain.  On  the  whole, 
friendly  to  the  Girondins,  though  opposed  to  Brissot's  colonial  policy. 
(La  !**■*  Sdition  jut  enlevee  entwre  par  I'ordre  de  Vancien  gouvernnient  en 
1810,  et  detruite  en  totalitS  en  1813.) 

Pange,  M.  le  chevalier  de.  Reflexions  sur  la  delation  et  sur  le  comite 
des  recherches.  Paris,  1790. 

A  severe  attack  on  the  methods  of  the  Committee;  with  special  refer- 
ence to  their  pursuit  of  M.  Besenval. 

Peltier,  Jean  Gabriel,  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  du  10  aoftt,  des 
causes  qui  I'ont  produite;  des  evenements  qui  Font  precedee,  et  des 
crimes  qui  I'ont  suivie.   2  vols.  Londres,  1795. 

Includes  the  events  leading  up  to  the  Revolution  of  August  10  and  the 
results,  as  well  as  the  events  of  the  day  itself.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
a  royalist  and  reactionary. 

Phillips,  Richard.  Biographical  anecdotes  of  the  founders  of  the 
French  Republic.   2  vols.     London,  1788. 

Contains  an  interesting  and  sympathetic  sketch  of  Brissot,  evidently 
based  on  first-hand  information.    Published  anonymously,  attributed  to 
Phillips. 
Pons,  F.  R.  J.  de.   Observations  sur  la  situation  politique  de  Saint 
Domingue,  27  novembre,  1790.   [Paris,  1790.] 

A  defense  of  the  slave  trade  on  the  ground  that  it  was  necessary  for  the 
existence  of  the  French  colonies. 

Robert,  Frangois.  A  ses  f  reres  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitu- 
tion, de  la  Societe  fraternelle  et  du  club  des  Cordeliers.   [Paris.] 

An  explanation  of  why  he  did  not  receive  an  appointment  as  ambassador 
to  Constantinople.  Throws  light  on  Brissot's  influence  with  the  Girondin 
ministry. 


492  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Robespierre,  Maximilien.  Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution.  Dis- 
cours  de  .  .  .  sur  le  parti  que  I'Assemblee  nationale  doit  prendre  re- 
lativement  a  la  proposition  de  guerre  annoncee  par  le  pouvoir  executif , 
prononce  a  la  societe  le  18  decembre,  1791.  [Paris,  1791.] 

A  speech  against  Brissot's  war  policy. 
Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution.    Discours  de  .  .  .  sur  la 


guerre  prononce  a  la  societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution,  le  2  Janvier, 
1792.  Paris,  1792. 

Another  speech  in  opposition  to  war. 

Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution.  Troisieme  discours  de  .  .  . 


sur  la  guerre,  prononce  .  .  .  dans  la  seance  du  26  Janvier,  1792,  I'an 
quatrieme  de  la  liberte.  Paris,  1792. 

Third  speech  in  opposition  to  war. 

Reponse  aux  discours  de  MM.  Brissot  et  Guadet,  du  25  avril. 


1792,  prononce  a  la  Societe  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution.  Paris,  1792. 

A  continuation  of  the  attack  begun  by  Robespierre,  April  4. 

Roland,  de  la  Platiere,  J.  M.  Lettre  a  Brissot  de  Warville.  Lyon, 
F"  mars,  1790.   [1790.] 

A  friendly  protest  that  Brissot  had  written  of  conditions  in  Lyons  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  Roland  responsible  for  views  which  he  did  not  hold. 
Throws  light  on  relations  between  the  two  men. 

Rousseau,  Le  Comte,  de.  Discours  de  .  .  .  prononce  le  12  fevrier  a 
I'assemblee  de  la  Commune,  sur  les  opinions  de  MM.  Kormann  et 
Brissot  de  Warville,  relatives  a  la  caisse  d'escompte.  Paris,  1790. 

A  defense  in  opposition  to  Brissot's  attack  of  the  caisse  d'escompte  in  its 
relations  with  the  national  treasury. 

Rouyer.  Historique  de  I'arrestation  de  Brissot.  Le  citoyen  Rouyer, 
commissaire  national  du  tribunal  du  district  de  Moulins  et  membre 
de  la  Societe  populaire  au  citoyen  Vidalin,  depute  a  la  Convention 
nationale  par  le  departement  de  I'Allier.  [Moulins  le  11  juin,  1793.] 
In  Convention  nationale.  Recits  de  la  Revolution  A.  N.  a.d.  xviii° 
241. 

An  accoimt  drawn  up  by  an  eye-witness  and  in  a  hostile  spirit. 

Saint-Cyran,  M.  J.  Refutation  du  projet  des  Amis  des  Noirs  sur  la 
suppression  de  la  traite  des  negres  et  sur  I'abolition  d'  esclavage  dans 
nos  colonies.  [Paris]  1790. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  493 

De  Salm,  La  Princess  Constance.  Notice  sur  la  vie,  les  ouvrages  de 
Mentelle.  Paris,  1839. 

The  most  valuable  part  of  this  work  is  a  series  of  extracts  from  a  man- 
uscript of  M.  Mentelle  in  which  is  included  an  appreciation  of  Brissot. 

Sergent-Marceau,  A.  F.  Notice  historique  sur  les  evenements  du 
10  aout  et  des  20  et  21  juin  precedants.  In  the  Revue  retrospective,  sec- 
ond series,  iii,  328-46. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  a  participant,  and  of  a  Montagnard. 

Tarbe,  C.  Replique  a  J.  P.  Brissot  sur  les  troubles  de  Saint-Do- 
mingue;  prononcee  a  I'Assemblee  nationale  le  22  novembre,  1792. 
Paris,  1792. 

A  defense  of  the  policy  of  the  colonial  committee  and  an  attack  in  turn 
on  Brissot's  colonial  policy. 

Theveneau  de  Morande,  Charles.  Replique  de  .  .  .  a  Jacques  Pierre 
Brissot  sur  les  erreurs,  les  oublis,  les  infidelites  et  les  calomnies  de  sa 
reponse.  Paris,  1791. 

Part  of  the  attack  made  upon  Brissot  at  the  time  of  his  candidacy  for 
the  Legislative  Assembly. 

Lettre  aux   electeurs  du  departement  de   Paris  sur  Jaques 

Pierre  Brissot.   Paris  [3  septembre],  1791. 
See  preceding  title  and  note. 

Supplement  au  No.  25  de  L' Argus  Patriots.  Paris,  6  septem- 
bre, 1791. 

See  above. 

Vemay.  Lettre  a  M.  Brissot  de  Warville  sur  ses  Reflexions  im- 
portantes  relatives  aux  elections  futures  des  municipalites  contenues 
dans  le  supplement  du  no.  clxiv  de  son  journal  intitule  Le  Patriate 
Frangais.  Lyon,  1790. 

An  attack  on  Brissot  for  ha\'ing  inserted  in  the  Patriote  Frangais  an 
article  advising  against  the  election  to  municipal  oflBce  of  all  persons  con- 
nected with  the  old  regime. 

Vilate,  Joachim.  Les  Mysteres  de  la  Mere  de  Dieu  devoiles.  Paris, 
I'an  III. 

Contains  some  details  with  regard  to  the  trial  and  last  hours  of  the 
Girondins.   Not  altogether  reliable. 

Avis  d'un  depute  a  ses  coUegues,  sur  le  discours  de  M.  Brissot,  lu 
a  la  seance  du  30  octobre,  1791,  concemant  une  revolte  de  negres  a 
Saint-Domingue. 

A  severe  criticism  of  Brissot's  position. 


494  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Adresse  a  I'assemblee  nationale. 

Sets  forth  the  dangers  to  French  commerce  of  the  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade.  The  signers  include  the  names  of  deputies  from  Marseilles,  Bayonne, 
Bordeaux,  Nantes,  Rochelle,  Saint-Malo,  Havre,  Dieppe,  Dunkirk  and 
Lille. 

Amis  des  Noirs,  Societe  de.  Adresse  a  TAssemblee  nationale  pour 
I'abolition  de  la  traite  des  noirs,  par  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs  de 
Paris.  20  fevrier,  1790. 

Signed  Brissot,  president,  Le  Page,  secretary.  While  pleading  for  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade  the  society  protested  against  the  assumption 
that  they  were  working  for  the  immediate  abolition  of  slavery.  Throws 
light  on  the  purposes  and  aims  of  the  society. 

Seconde  adresse  a  I'Assemblee  nationale,  par  la  Societe  des  Amis 
des  Noirs.   9  avril,  1790. 

Adresse  aux  amis  de  I'humanite  par  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs 
sur  le  plan  de  ses  traveaux,  4  juin,  1790. 

An  outline  of  the  methods  and  work  of  the  Society,  signed  by  Petion  as 
president  and  Brissot  as  secretary. 

Adresse  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs  a  I'Assemblee  nationale, 
a  toutes  les  villes  de  commerce,  a  toutes  les  manufactures,  aux  colonies, 
a  toutes  les  societes  des  amis  de  la  constitution;  adresse  dans  laquelle 
on  approfondit  les  relations  politiques  et  commerciales,  entre  la  me- 
tropole,  et  les  colonies,  redigee  par  Claviere. 

A  special  plea  for  the  extension  of  civil  rights  to  the  mulattoes  and  a 
general  statement  of  the  principles  of  the  society. 

Tableau  des  membres  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs. 

Without  date  or  signature.  In  Stipplement  aux  proces-verbal  de  l' As- 
semble nationale,  colonies,  tome  i;  traite  des  negres,  partie  ii.  A.  N.,  AD^^'™, 
C.  115.  Of  considerable  value,  as  showing  the  growth  and  personnel  of  the 
Amis  des  Noirs. 

Lettre  aux  Bailliages  de  France.  [1  dec,  1789.] 

An  attack  on  the  Amis  des  Noirs  on  the  ground  that  it  was  an  anti- 
patriotic  society. 

Reglements  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs. 

Drawn  up  by  Condorcet.  Printed  in  article  by  Leon  Cahen,  "  La  Soci^S 
des  Amis  des  Noirs  et  Condorcet,"  in  La  Revolution  Frangais^,  June,  1906. 

Circulaire  de  la  Societe  de  la  liberie  et  de  I'equalite,  seante  aux  ci- 
devant  Jacobins  de  Paris,  rue  Saint-Honore.  Paris,  1792. 

An  explanation,  sent  to  the  affiliated  societies,  of  the  reasons  for  the  ex- 
pulsion of  Brissot. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  495 

Considerations  presentees  aux  vrais  amis  du  repos  et  du  bonheur  de 
la  France  a  I'occasion  des  nouveaux  mouvements  de  quelques  soi- 
disant  Amis  des  Noirs.   [1790.] 

Denonciation  de  la  secte  des  Amis  des  Noirs,  par  les  habitants  des 
colonies  frangaises  [signe:  Les  Colons  assemblies  en  I'hotel  de  Mas- 
siac] 

Decouverte  d'une  conspiration  contre  les  interets  de  la  France. 
Without  date  or  signature.  A  violent  attack  on  the  .-Itom  rffs  .Vo?>s.   In 
the  same  series  as  the  above.  They  both  throw  light  on  the  importance  of 
the  Society. 

Le  Diable  dans  un  benitier  et  la  Metamorphose  du  gazetier 
cuirasse. 

An  attack  on  the  police  methods  of  the  old  regime.  For  his  alleged  col- 
laboration with  Pelleport  in  the  authorship  of  his  pamphlet,  Brissot  was 
imprisoned  in  the  Bastille  in  1784.  it  has  never  been  6nally  settled  as  to 
who  was  really  the  author. 

An  inquiry  into  the  cause  of  the  insurrection  of  the  negroes  in  the 
island  of  Santo  Domingo.  London,  1792. 

An  English  attack  on  Brissot's  colonial  policy. 

Flower  of  the  Jacobins,  containing  biographical  sketches  of  the 
characters  at  present  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  France,  dedicated  to 
Louis  XVI,  king  of  France  and  Navarre.  Third  edition.  London, 
1793. 

Attacks  on  Monsieur  Egalite,  Petion,  Merlin,  Dumouriez,  Chabot, 
Carra,  Gorsas,  Danton,  ]Marat,  Condorcet,  Robespierre,  and  Brissot. 

Lettre  a  MM.  les  deputes  des  trois  ordres,  pour  les  engager  a  faire 
nommer  par  Les  Etats  Generaux,  a  I'example  des  anglais,  une  com- 
mission chargee  d'examiner  la  cause  des  noirs  [signe:  Un  ami  des 
Noirs].   [Mai,  1789.] 

An  argument  against  the  slave  trade. 

Lettre  de  M.  ...  a  M.  Brissot  de  Warville,  president  de  la  Societe 
des  Amis  des  Noirs.   [Paris.] 

"Par  les  deputes  extraordinaires  des  manvfacturiers  et  du  commerce,  en 
faveur  du  maintien  de  la  traite." 

Lettres  de  la  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs  a  M.  Necker  avec  la  re- 
ponse  de  ce  ministre.  Juillet,  1789. 

A  protest  against  certain  statements  regarding  the  slave  trade,  made  by 
Necker  in  his  address  at  the  opening  of  the  States-General. 


496  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Lettres  des  diverses  Societes  des  Amis  de  la  Constitution,  qui  re- 
clament  les  droits  de  citoyen  actif  en  faveur  des  hommes  de  couleur 
des  colonies  [8  mars,  ITavril,  1791].    [Paris.] 

For  the  most  part  letters  addressed  to  the  SociSte  des  Amis  de  la  Con- 
stitution, at  Angers,  in  response  to  the  circular  sent  out  by  that  society, 
announcing  its  plan  to  present  a  petition  to  the  National  Assembly  in 
favor  of  the  mulattoes. 

Liste  des  ouvrages  sur  la  traite  et  I'esclavage.  [Paris.] 

The  same  list  which  was  published  in  the  Patriote  Franqais  of  May  7, 
17&0. 

Un  Mot  sur  les  Noirs,  a  leurs  Amis. 

An  argument  in  favor  of  slavery,  and  an  attack  on  the  Amis  des  Noirs, 
on  the  ground  that  they  were  unpatriotic  and  that  they  were  working 
against  the  real  interests  of  France. 

Observations  du  Mercredi,  15  decembre,  1790. 

Opinion  de  M.  Brissot  sur  quelques  idees  de  M.  A.  Lameth.   1790. 

A  criticism  of  Brissot's  objections  to  certain  remarks  of  Lameth  on  the 
relation  of  the  ministry  to  the  legislative  body. 

Observations  sur  un  ouvrage  de  M.  Brissot  de  Warville,  7  decembre, 
1790. 

A  quotation  from  a  letter  by  Brissot  with  warm  commendation  of  his 
patriotic  principles. 

Observations  sur  un  article  du  journal  de  M.  Brissot  de  Warville, 
concernant  une  protestation  contre  les  assignats. 

Unsigned  and  undated.  Evidently  by  Bergasse,  whose  name  is  written 
in  the  margin.  On  a  previous  occasion  Bergasse  had  expressed  surprise 
that  Claviere  should  uphold  forced  assignats.  The  present  pamphlet  is  an 
answer  to  Brissot  and  a  further  criticism  of  the  dangers  of  the  proposed 

assignats. 

Observations  pour  servir  de  reponse  aux  objections  de  M.  Brissot 
contre  la  convocation  actuelle  des  assemblees  primaires  dans  son 
opinion  du  juillet  26.   [Paris,  1792.] 

A  protest  against  the  suspicion  expressed  by  Brissot,  that  the  partisans 
of  the  king  were  favoring  the  convocation  of  the  primary  assemblies,  in  the 
hope  that  once  called  they  could  be  intimidated  into  taking  action  favor- 
able to  the  king. 

Perfidie  du  systeme  des  Amis  des  Noirs.  [Nantes,  ce  23  fevrier, 
1791.] 

The  address  closes  thus :  "  lis  sont  les  voeux  unanimes  et  universelles 
de  tons  les  citoyens  et  individus  de  la  ville  de  Nantes  et  tels  ne  peuvent 
qu'etre  ceux  de  tons  les  bons  et  senses  Frangais." 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  497 

Reflexions  sur  la  despotisme  qu'exercent  a  Saint-Domingue  les 
commissaires  nationaux  civiles,  Polverel  and  Santhonax.  Denoncia- 
tion  de  ces  memes  commissaires  par  le  citoyen  sans-reproche,  homme 
de  couleur,  affranchi  du  citoyen  Page,  homme  blanc  et  commissaire  de 
Saint-Dom  ingue. 

Allegations  against  Brissot  and  the  Girondins  to  the  effect  that  they 
had  upheld  the  policy  of  Polverel  and  Santhonax. 

Reponse  des  deputes  de  Saint-Domingue  aux  inculpations  de  M. 
Brissot,  adresse  le  5  decembre  a  M.  le  president  de  I'assemblee  na- 
tionale. 

Representations  a  MM.  Brissot,  I'abbe  Audrin,  Chabot  et  les  autres 
deputes  detracteurs  du  pouvoir  executif.   [Paris,  1792.] 

Unsigned  and  undated.  A  protest  against  attacks  on  the  king's  min- 
isters. The  way  to  restore  dignity  to  the  existing  government,  the  writer 
argued,  was  not  to  insult  its  first  agents. 

Sur  les  troubles  des  colonies  et  I'unique  moyen  d'assurer  la  tran- 
quillite,  le  prosperite  et  la  fidelite  de  ces  dependances  de  I'empire,  en 
refutation  des  deux  discours  de  M.  Brissot  du  1^'  et  3™^  decembre, 
1791. 

An  argument  that  the  troubles  of  the  colonies  were  due  to  the  agitation 
of  the  slavery  question. 

Vie  privee  et  politique  de  Brissot.  Paris,  I'an  IE. 

A  violent  attack  on  Brissot,  written,  apparentlj%  after  his  arrest  at 
Moulins,  June  10,  1793,  and  just  before  his  trial.  It  compares  him  with 
Tartuffe.  The  pamphlet  contains  a  picture  of  Brissot. 

Vie  secrette  et  politique  de  Brissot.   Paris,  I'an  VI. 

A  duplicate  of  the  preceding,  but  with  a  different  title-page. 

S.  Memoirs  and  Letters 

Bailleul,  Jacques  Charles.  Examen  critique  de  I'ouvrage  posthume 
de  IVIme.  la  Baronne  de  Stael  ayant  pour  titre,  "Considerations  sur 
les  principaux  evenements  de  la  Revolution  frangaise."  2  vols.  Paris, 
1818. 

Contains  an  appreciation  of  Brissot  and  the  Girondins  from  the  point  of 
view  of  a  man  who  had  occupied  the  position  of  a  moderate  in  the  Con- 
vention.  It  also  gives  an  account  of  the  origin  of  the  term  "Brissotin." 

Barbaroux,  Charles  Jean  Marie.  Memoires  inedites  de  Petion  et 
Memoires  de  Buzot  et  de  Barbaroux.  Dauban,  C.  A.,  ed.  Paris,  1866. 

Dauban  is  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  Girondins. 


498  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bertrand  de  Moleville,  Antoine  Frangois.  Memoires  particuHeres 
pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de  la  fin  du  regne  de  Louis  XVII.  2  vols.  1816. 

Throws  light  on  the  attitude  of  supporters  of  the  king  towards  Brissot. 

Crevecoeur,  Saint  John  de.  Letters  from  an  American  Farmer. 
London,  1782. 

A  work  of  great  interest,  because  of  its  influence  upon  Brissot. 

Delacroix,  J.  L'Intrigue  devoilee  ou  Robespierre  venge  des  ou- 
trages et  des  calomnies  des  ambitieux.  [Paris,]  1792. 

Contains  an  attack  on  Brissot  as  an  adherent  of  Lafayette.    The  par- 
tisanship of  the  writer  is  evident  from  the  title. 

Dumont,  fitienne.  Souvenirs  sur  Mirabeau  et  sur  les  deux  pre- 
mieres assemblees  legislatives,  ouvrage  posthume  public  par  J.  L. 
Duval.  Paris,  1832. 

Contains  interesting  comments  on  the  attitude  of  Brissot  on  various 
occasions,  which  are,  however,  to  be  taken  with  some  caution. 

Recollections  of  Mirabeau  and  of  the  two  Legislative  Assem- 
blies of  France.   London,  1832. 
A  translation  of  the  above. 

Garat,  Le  Comte,  D.  J.  Memoires  sur  la  Revolution,  ou  expose  de 
ma  conduite  dans  les  affaires  et  dans  les  fonctions  publiques.  Paris, 
I'an  III. 

Garat  was  a  friend  and  at  the  same  time  a  critic  of  the  Girondins. 

Genlis,  Madame  la  comtesse  de.  Memoires.  In  Barriere,  Biblio- 
theque  des  Memoires,  xv.   1846. 

Unreliable. 

Louvet  de  Couvrai,  Jean  Baptiste.  Memoires  sur  la  Revolution 
Frangaise.  F.  A.  Aulard,  ed.    2  vols.  Paris,  1889. 

Edited  from  a  more  unbiased  point  of  view  than  the  previously  pub- 
lished memoirs  of  other  Girondins. 

Mallet  du  Pan,  Jacques.  Memoires  et  correspondance  de  .  .  .  pour 
servir  a  I'histoire  de  la  Revolution  Frangaise,  recueillis  et  mis  en  ordre 
par  A.  Sayous.   2  vols.  Paris,  1851. 

Hostile  to  Brissot. 

Meillan.  Memoires.  Paris,  1823. 

Favorable  to  the  Girondins. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  499 

Riouffe,  H.   Memoires  d'un  detenu  pour  servir  a  I'histoire  de  la 
tyrannic  de  Robespierre.  Paris,  I'an  HI. 

Gives  information  as  to  Brissot's  last  days  in  prison. 
Roland,  Madame  Marie  Jeanne  Phlipon.    Lettres  publiees  par 
Claude  Perroud.  In  Collection  de  documents  inedits  sur  I'histoire  de 
France.  2  vols.  Paris.  1900-02. 

In  "Collection  de  documents  in&diis  sur  I'histoire  de  France,  jmbliSs  par 

les  soins  du  ministre  de  Vinstruction  publique."  A  work  of  most  thorough 

scholarship;  contains  much  material  upon  Brissot  and  his  relation  with  the 

Roland  group. 

Memoires.    Publies  par  Claude  Perroud.  2  vols.   Paris,  1905. 

A  work  of  the  same  character  as  the  above;  also  contains  much  informa- 
tion as  to  Brissot. 

Soulavie,  J.  L.  G.  Memoires  historique  et  politiques  sur  le  regne  de 
touis  XVI.   6  vols.   Paris,  1801. 

Not  in  sympathy  with  Brissot. 

Williams,  Helene  Marie.    Souvenirs  de  la  Revolution  fran^aise. 
Traduit  de  I'anglais  [par  C.  C.].  Paris,  1827. 

Miss  Williams  was  in  sympathy  with  the  Girondin  policy  and  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  many  of  them.  She  gives  various  details  as  to  the  family  of 
Brissot,  but  her  accounts  are  not  to  be  relied  upon. 

Lettres  sur  les  evenements  qui  se  sont  passes  en  France  de- 

puis  le  31  mai,  1793,  jusqu'au  10  thermidor.   Traduites  de  I'anglais. 
Paris. 

See  above. 

3.  Newspapers 

Only  those  are  cited  which  especially  concern  Brissot. 

Les  Actes  des  Apotres.   November,  1789,  to  October,  1791.    (311 
DOS.,  11  vols.)  L'an  de  la  liberte  0. 

L'Ami  du  peuple.    Ed.  par  Marat.    Sept.  12,  1789,  to  July  14, 
1793. 

This  and  the  preceding  extremely  hostile  to  Brissot. 

L'Ami  du  Roi.  Parts  1-4.  Paris,  1790-92. 

Motto:  Pro  Deo,  Rege  et  P atria. 


500  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Annales  politiques,  civiles  et  litteraires,  du  dix-huitieme  siecle 
ouvrage  periodique,  par  M.  Linguet.  19  vols.  Londres  et  Paris,  1777- 
91. 

Decidedly  polemic  in  character,  twice  suppressed.  Brissot  was  for  a 
brief  time  comiected  with  this  journal. 

L'Aniti-Brissotin.  Journal  du  soir.  Du  117  nos.  F'  brumaire,  an 
II,  a  27  pluviose,  an  III. 

Upholds  the  system  of  the  Terror. 

Le  Babillard.  Journal  du  Palais-Royal  et  des  Tuileries.  116  nos. 
(June  5,  to  Oct.  7,  1791.  Paris,  1791.] 

This  journal  and  its  successor,  Le  Chant  du  Cog,  bitterly  hostile  to 
Brissot. 

Le  Babillard  et  le  Chant  du  Coq.  Nos.  117-38.  Oct.  8,  to  Oct.  30, 
1791.  Paris,  1791. 

"  Le  Chant  du  Coq  semblait  n' avoir  H6  crit  que  pour  mener  un  campagne 
achamee  contre  Brissot." 

La  Chronique  du  mois  ou  les  cahiers  patriotiques  de  E.  Claviere,  C. 
Condorcet,  L.  Mercier,  A.  Auger,  J.  Oswald,  N.  Bonneville,  J.  Bider- 
mann,  A.  Broussonet,  A.  Guy-Kersaint,  J.  P.  Brissot,  J.  Ph.  Garran 
de  Coulon,  J.  Dussaulx,  F.  Lanthenas,  et  CoUot  d'Herbois.  5  vols. 
Nov.  1791,  to  July,  1793. 

La  Chronique  de  Paris.  8  vols.  Aug.  24,  1789,  to  Aug.  25,  1793. 
Moderate,  inclined  to  the  side  of  the  Girondins. 

Le  Courrier  des  departements.  47  vols.,  ed  by  Gorsas.  July  5, 1789, 
to  May  31,  1793. 

It  appeared  imder  the  successive  titles  of  Le  Courrier  de  Versailles  d 
Paris,  Le  Courrier  de  Paris  dans  les  Provinces,  Le  Courrier  de  Paris  dans 
les  83  departements,  Le  Courrier  des  IXXXlll  departements,  Le  Courrier 
des  departements. 

Courrier  de  I'Europe,  gazette  anglo-frangais,  par  Serre  de  Latour, 
Morande.  Brissot,  le  comte  de  Montlosier;  32  vols.  Londres  et  Bou- 
logne, 1776-92. 

"  Un  des  recueils  les  plus  importants  ct  consulter,  nan  seulement  pour  I'his- 
toire  politique,  mais  encore  pour  Vhistoire  morale  et  litt^aire  du  siecle  dernier. 
Inieressant  surtout  pour  Vhistoire  des  colonies  anglais."  Hatin,  Biblio- 
graphic,  74. 

Gazette  nationale  ou  le  Moniteur  Universal,  du  24  novembre,  1789. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  sources  for  the  debates  in  the  successive 
Assemblies. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  501 

Le  journal  general  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville.  15  vols.  Sept.  15,  1789, 
to  Aug.  10,  1792. 

Hostile  to  Brissot. 

Journal  de  Paris.  87  vols.  Jan.  1,  1777,  to  Sept.  30,  1811. 
Inclined  to  be  hostile. 

Le  Mercure,  1672-1853. 

During  the  Revolution,  and  since,  called  the  Mercure  de  France.  From 
1789  to  1792  of  the  party  of  constitutional  monarchy. 

The  Monthly  Review,  or  Literary  Journal,  enlarged.  108  vols.  Lon- 
don, 1790-1825. 

Contains  criticisms  of  certam  of  Brissot's  works;  more  or  less  friendly. 

Le  Republicain,  ou  le  Defenseur  du  gouvemement  representatif  par 
une  societe  des  republicains  [par  Condorcet,  Thomas  Paine  et  Achille 
Duchatelet].    [Paris,  1791.] 

The  newspaper  which  represented  the  sudden  and  short-lived  republican 
movement  of  the  summer  of  1791. 

Les  Revolutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant.  86  nos.  Nov.  28,  1789, 
to  July,  1791. 

Critical,  rather  than  hostile.  On  several  occasions,  however,  Desmou- 
lins  expressed  hearty  approval  of  Brissot's  conduct. 

Les  Revolutions  de  Paris.  18  vols.  July  12,  1789,  to  Feb.  28,  1794. 

At  first  rather  in  sympathy  with  Brissot,  but  it  did  not  hesitate  to  assail 
him  particularly  for  his  part  in  municipal  affairs,  and  as  the  Revolution 
progressed  criticized  him  more  and  more  severely. 

Le  Thermometre  du  jour.    7  vols.  Aug.  11,  1791,  to  Aug.  25,  1793. 

"An  implacable  enemy  of  nobles,  priests,  and  kings." 

C.   Collections  of  Documents 

Aulard,  Frangois  Alphonse.  La  Societe  des  Jacobins.  Recueil  de 
documents  pour  I'histoire  du  club  des  Jacobins  de  Paris.  6  vols.  Paris, 
1889-97.  In  Collection  de  documents  relatifs  a  I'histoire  de  Paris 
pendant  la  Revolution  frangaise,  publiee  sous  le  patronage  de  Conseil 
municipal. 

ed.     Recueil  des  actes  du  Comite  de  salut  public  avec  la 

correspondance  oflBcielle  des  representants  in  mission.  20  vols.  1889- 
1910. 


502  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Challamel,  Augustin.  Les  Clubs  contre-revolutionaires,  circles, 
comites,  societes,  salons,  reunions,  cafes,  restaurants  et  librairies. 
Paris,  1895. 

Charavay,  fitienne.  Assemblee  electorale  de  Paris.  18  novembre, 
1790,  a  15  juin,  1791.  Paris,  1890. 

Assemblee  electorale  de  Paris.  26  aoAt  1791,  k  12  aoAt,  1792. 

Paris,  1890. 

Chassin,  Ch.  L.  Les  Elections  et  les  cahiers  de  Paris  en  1789.  4  vols. 
Paris,  1888-89. 

Funck-Brentano,  Frantz.  Les  Lettres  de  cachet  a  Paris.  Etude 
suivie  d'une  liste  des  prisonniers  de  la  Bastille.  [1659-1789.]  Paris, 
1903. 

Hatin,  Eugene.  Bibliographic  historique  et  critique  de  la  presse 
periodique  frangaise.  Paris,  1866. 

Lacroix,  Sigismund.  Actes  de  la  commune  de  Paris  pendant  la 
Revolution,  publics  et  annotes  par  Sigismund  Lacroix.  7  vols.  1^ 
serie.   25  juillet,  1789,  a  8  octobre,  1790.   Paris,  1894-1898. 

Mavidal,  J.,  et  Laurent,  E.  Archives  parlementaires  de  1787  a  1860. 
Recueil  complet  des  debats  legislatifs  et  politiques  des  chambres 
frangaises.  Premiere  serie  [1787  a  1799].  Paris,  1879- 

The  editing  of  this  work  is  not  of  the  highest  order.    It  supplements  the 
information  found  in  the  Moniteur,  but  it  is  to  be  used  with  some  caution. 

Robiquet,  Paul.  Le  Personnel  municipal  de  Paris  pendant  la  Re- 
volution, periode  constitutionelle.  Paris,  1890. 

Bulletin  du  tribunal  criminel  etabli  par  la  loi  du  10  mars,  1793,  pour 
juger  sans  appel  les  conspirateurs.    8  vols.   Paris,  1793. 

Contains  reports  of  the  trial,  drawn  up  natiu"ally  in  a  spirit  hostile  to  the 
Girondins. 

Proces- verbal  de  I'Assemblee  nationale  [legislative].  16  vols.  Paris, 
1791-92. 

Proces- verbal  de  la  convention  nationale.  74  vols.  Paris,  1792. 
An  IV. 

Supplement  aux  proces-verbal  de  I'assemblee  nationale.  Colonies. 
Tome  I.  Traites  des  negres.  Part  ii. 

Browning,  Oscar,  ed.  The  dispatches  of  Earl  Gower,  English  am- 
bassador at  Paris  from  June,  1790,  to  August,  1792,  to  which  are 
added  the  dispatches  of  Mr.  Lindsay  and  Mr.  Monro,  and  the  diary 
of  Viscount  Palmerston  in  France  during  July  and  August,  1791. 
Cambridge,  Eng.,  1885. 

Contains  comments  on  several  of  Brissot's  speeches. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  503 


D,  General  Works 

Aulard,  F.  A.  Histoire  politique  de  la  Revolution  frangaise.  Paris, 
1901. 

Very  suggestive  as  to  the  Girondin  policy  in  general. 

L'Eloquence   parlementaire  pendant  la  Revolution  frangaise. 

Les  Orateurs  de  la  Legislative  et  de  la  Convention.    2  vols.  Paris, 
1885-86. 

Contains  an  interesting  and  suggestive  sketch  of  Brissot. 

Avenel,  H.  Histoire  de  la  presse  frangaise  depuis  1789  jusqu'a  nos 
jours.  Paris,  1900. 

Beaulieu,  Claude  Frangois.  Essais  historiques  sur  les  causes  et  les 
effets  de  la  Revolution  de  France.  6  vols.  Paris,  1801-03. 

From  the  royalist  point  of  view. 

Belote,  T.  T.  The  Scioto  Speculation  and  the  French  Settlement  at 
Gallipolis.  In  University  studies,  published  by  the  University  of 
Cincinnati;  series  ii;  vol.  ii,  103.  Cincinnati,  1907. 

Bire,  Edmond.  La  Legende  des  Girondins.  Paris,  1881. 

Extremely  hostile  to  the  Girondins  and  to  the  Revolution. 

Biernawski,  Louis.  Un  Departement  sous  la  Revolution  frangaise, 
L'Allier  de  1789  a  I'an  IH.  Moulins,  1909. 

Contains  material  on  arrest  of  Brissot. 

Buchez,  P.  J,  B,,  et  Roux,  P.  C.  Histoire  parlementaire  de  la  Re- 
volution frangaise  ou  Journal  des  assemblees  nationales  depuis  1789 
jusqu'en  1815.   40  vols.   Paris,  1834-38. 

Especially  valuable  for  the  clues  which  it  gave  to  the  contemporary 
journalistic  opinion. 

Bourne,  H.  E.  The  Revolutionary  Period  in  Europe,  1789-1815. 
New  York,  1904. 

A  brief  but  scholarly  treatment  of  the  whole  period. 

Cahen,  Leon.  Condorcet  et  la  Revolution  frangaise.  Paris, 
1904. 

Valuable  information  on  relations   between  Condorcet  and  Brissot. 
Well  documented. 


504  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Campardon,  fimile.  Le  Tribunal  revolutionaire  de  Paris.  Ouvrage 
compose  d'apres  les  documents  originaux  conserves  aux  Archives  de 
I'Empire,  suivi  de  la  liste  complete  des  personnes  qui  ont  comparu 
devant  le  tribunal.  2  vols.  Paris,  1866. 

Gives  an  account  of  the  trial  of  the  Girondins.  Hostile  to  the  tribunal 
and  in  sympathy  with  the  accused. 

Charpentier,  (  ).  La  Bastille  devoilee  ou  Recueil  de  pieces  au- 
thentiques  pour  servir  a  son  histoire.   3  vols.   Paris,  1789-90. 

Par  Charpentier,  d'apres  Barbier.  Par  Louis  Pierre  Manuel,  d'apres  M. 
Girraud.  [Note  in  catalogue  of  Bibliotheque  Nationale.]  Contains  a  state- 
ment that  Brissot  received  the  keys  of  the  Bastille. 

Claretie,  Arsene  Jules.  Desmoulins,  Lucile  Desmoulins,  etude  sur  les 
Dantonistes,  d'apres  des  documents  nouveaux,  et  inedite.   Paris,  1875. 
Contains  information  as  to  the  relations  of  Brissot  and  Desmoulins. 

Clarkson,  Thomas.  The  History  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Accom- 
plishment of  the  Abolition  of  the  African  Slave  Trade,  by  the  British 
Parliament.  2  vols.   London,  1808. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  sources  for  the  history  of  the  Amis  des  Noirs. 

Cornillon,  J.  Le  Bourbonnais  sous  la  Revolution  frangaise.  3  vols. 
Moulins,  1889-91. 

Contains  information  on  conditions  at  Moulin  at  time  of  Brissot's 
arrest. 

Crevecceur,  Robert  de.  Saint  John  de  CreveccEur,  sa  vie  et  ses 
ouvrages  [1735-1813].  Paris,  1883. 

Gives  interesting  information  as  to  the  relations  of  Brissot  with  Cr&ve- 
coeur. 

Dard,  Emile.  Un  Acteur  cache  du  drame  revolutionaire,  le  general 
Choderlos  de  Laclos,  acteur  des  "Liaisons  dangereuses,"  1741-1803, 
d'apres  des  documents  inedits.  Paris,  1905. 

Contains  information  as  to  the  part  played  by  Brissot  in  the  republican 
crisis  of  July,  1791. 

Duchatellier,  A.  R.  Histoire  de  la  Revolution  dans  les  departements 
de  I'ancienne  Bretagne.  6  vols.  Paris,  1836. 

Feuillet  de  Conches,  F.  Louis  XVT,  Marie  Antoinette  et  Madame 
Elizabeth.    Lettres  et  documents  inedits.    6  vols.   Paris,  1864-73. 

Much  of  the  material  contained  in  the  first  two  volumes  is  of  doubtful 
authenticity.  The  last  four  volumes  are  less  open  to  question. 


BIBLIOGK\PHY  505 

Fleury,  Ed.  Camille  Desmoulins  et  Roch  Marcandier.  2  vols. 
Paris,  1851. 

Made  up  largely  of   quotations,  not  very  critical,  favorable  to  Des- 
moulins. 

Gallois,  Leonard.  Histoire  des  journaux  et  des  journalistes  de  la 
Revolution  frangaise,  1789-96.   2  vols.   Paris,  1845— i6. 

Contains  a  suggestive  sketch  of  the  Patriote  Franqais. 

Glagau,  Hans.  Die  franzosische  Legislative  und  der  Ursprung  der 
Revolutionskriege,  1791-92.   Berlin,  1896.   In  Historische  Studien. 

Based  in  part  on  the  Austrian  archives. 

Goetz-Bernstein,  H.  A.  La  Diplomatie  de  la  Gironde.  Jacques 
Pierre  Brissot.   Paris,  1912. 

A  thorough  and  well-documented  study. 

Gomel,  Charles.  Histoire  financiere  de  I'Assemblee  constituante. 
2  vols.    1896-97. 

Histoire  financiere  de  la  Legislative  et  de  la  Convention. 

2  vols.  1902-05. 

Goupil,  Paul.  La  Propriete  selon  Brissot  de  Warville.  These  pour 
le  doctorat.   Paris,  1904. 

Emphasizes  Brissot's  inconsistency  and  his  debt  to  Rousseau. 

Granier  de  Casagnac,  A.  Histoire  des  Girondins  et  des  massacres 
de  Septembre  d'apres  les  documents  officials  et  inedits.  2  vols.  Paris, 
1860. 

One  of  the  first  studies  of  the  Girondins  from  a  comparatively  unbiased 
point  of  view. 

Guadet,  Joseph.  Les  Girondins,  leur  vie  privee,  leur  vie  publique, 
leur  proscription  et  leur  mort.   2  vols.  Paris,  1861. 

As  the  title  suggests,  —  a  eulogy. 
Hatin,  Eugene.   Histoire  du  journal  en  France.   Paris,  1846. 

Includes  information  on  the  beginnings  of  the  Patriote  Frangais. 
Herissay,  Jacques.  Un  Girondin,  Frangois  Buzot.  Paris,  1907. 

A  successful  attempt  to  make  vivid  the  personality  of  Buzot. 

Herrmann,  Dr.  Ernst.  Diplomatische  Correspondenzen  aus  der 
Revolutionszeit,  1791-97.  Gotha,  1867. 

Abstracts  and  translation  of  dispatches  dealing  largely  with  the  out- 
break of  war. 


506  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Jaures,J.  LaConstituante,  1901.  La  Legislative,  1902.  La  Conven- 
tion; 2  vols.;  1903.  In  Histaire  Sodaliste,  1789-1900,  sous  la  direction 
de  Jean  Jaures  et  collaborateurs. 

Contains  material  indicating  Brissot's  interest  in  economic  matters. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  a  socialist. 

Kropotkin,  Pierre.  La  Grande  Revolution,  1789-93.  Paris,  1909. 
Attacks  the  Girondins  on  the  ground  that  they  represent  the  bourgeois 
point  of  view  in  hostility  to  the  proletariat. 
Lomenie,  Louis  Leonard,  et  Charles  de.  Les  Mirabeaux,  nouvelles 
etudies  sur  la  societe  frangaise  au  18™^  siecle.  5  vols.  Paris,  1885-91. 
Throws  light  on  the  early  relations  between  Brissot  and  Mirabeau. 
Masson,  Frederic.  Le  Departement  des  affaires  etrangeres  pendant 
la  revolution,  1787-1804.  Paris,  1877. 
Based  on  documents. 
Mathiez,  A.  Le  Club  de  Cordeliers.  Paris,  1910. 

Mills,  Herbert  Elmer.  The  Early  Years  of  the  French  Revolution 
in  Santo  Domingo.  Poughkeepsie,  1892. 

Monin.   L'Etat  de  Paris  en  1789.  Paris,  1881. 

Morellet,  L'Abbe  Andre.  Melanges  de  litterature  et  de  philosophic 
du  18™^  siecle.  4  vols.  Paris,  1818. 

Contains  a  criticism  of  some  of  Brissot's  literary  work. 
Pallain,  G.,  ed.   La  Mission  de  Talleyrand  a  Londres,  en  1792. 
Paris,  1889. 

Information  on  Brissot's  attitude  toward  foreign  affairs. 
Pfeiffer,  L.  B.  The  Uprising  of  June  20,  1792. 

A  scholarly  study. 
Robiquet,  Paul.  Theveneau  de  Morande.  Paris,  1882. 

Throws  light  on  one  of  Brissot's  most  bitter  adversaries,  and  on  the 
libelists  of  the  old  regime,  with  whom  Brissot  came  in  contact  during  his 
stay  in  London  in  1784. 

Rose,  J.  H.  William  Pitt  and  the  Great  War.  London,  1911. 

Sagnac,  Ph.  La  Legislation  civile  de  la  Revolution  frangaise.  Paris, 
1890. 

Seligman,  E.  La  Justice  en  France  pendant  la  Revolution  frangaise, 
Paris,  1901. 

Sorel,  Albert.  L'Europe  et  la  Revolution  frangaise.  8  vols.  Paris, 
1885-1904. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  507 

Sybel,  H.  von.  The  French  Revolution.  4  vols.  London,  1867-69. 

Ternaux,  Mortimer.    Histoire  de  la  Terreur,  1792-94,  d'apres  des 
documents  authentiques  et  inedits.  7  vols.  Paris,  1862-69. 
Contains  documents  bearing  on  Brissot. 

Vatel,  Charles.  Charlotte  de  Corday,  et  les  Girondins,  pieces  clas- 
sees  et  annotees.  2  vols.  Paris,  1864-72. 

Contains  a  Notice  sur  Brissot,  by  Petion,  of  special  value  on  many  points 
of  his  early  life.  Petion  apparently  derived  much  of  his  information  di- 
rectly from  Brissot  himself. 

Vergniaud,  Manuscrits,  lettres  et  papiers,  pieces  pour  la  plu- 

part  inedites.   2  vols.  Paris,  1873. 

Contains  several  important  documents  bearing  on  Brissot,  not  accessi- 
ble elsewhere. 

Vaultier,  F.  Souvenirs  de  Tinsurrection  normande  dite  du  fede- 
ralisme  en  1793,  publiees  pour  la  premiere  fois,  avec  notes  et  pieces 
justificative,  par  M.  Georges  Mangel.  Caen,  1858. 

Wallon,  Henri  Alexandre.    Histoire  de  Tribunal  revolutionaire  de 
Paris,  avec  le  journal  de  ses  actes.  6  vols.  Paris,  1880-82. 
Favorable  to  the  Girondins. 

La  Revolution  de  31  mai  et  le  federalisme  en  1793,  ou  la 

France  vaincue,  par  la  commune  de  Paris.   2  vols.    Paris,  1886. 

Washington,  George.  Writings,  ed.  by  Ford.  14  vols.  New  York, 
1889-93. 

W' ilberforce,  R.  I.  and  S.,  editors.  Life  of  William  Wilberforce,  by 
his  sons.    London,  1838. 

E.  Magazine  Articles 

Aulard,  FranQois  Alphonse.  Formation  du  parti  republicain.  In 
La  Revolution  Frangaise,  for  1898,  xxxv,  296-347. 

Bourne,  Henry  E.  American  Constitutional  Precedents  in  the 
French  National  Assembly.  In  the  American  Historical  Review,  April, 
1903,  \^II,  466-86. 

Cahen,  Leon.  La  Societe  des  Amis  des  Noirs  et  Condorcet.  In  La 
Revolution  Franqaise,  June,  1906,  pp.  481-511. 

Chamberland,  (  ).  A  propos  de  Brissot  [le  conventionnel  ne  a 
Chartres  en  1754].  In  Proces-Verbaux  de  la  Societe  archeologique 
d'Eure-et-Loire.   [Chartres.]  1901,  x,  121-23. 

Denos,  G.  Etude  sur  la  maison  dite  de  Brissot  a  Chartres.  In  Pro- 
ces-verbaux  de  la  Societe  archeologique  d'Eure-et-Loire.  [Chartres,] 
1901,  X,  163-69. 


508  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Faguet,  Emile.  Une  histoire  de  la  Revolution  frangaise.  In  La 
Revue  des  Deux  Monies,  1  aodt,  1901,  fifth  period,  iv,  631-59. 

Manning,  W.  R.  The  Nootka  Sound  Controversy.  In  the  Annual 
Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  1904. 

Perroud,  A.  Brissot  de  les  Rolands.  In  La  Revolution  Frangaise, 
mai,  1898,  xxxiv,  403-22. 

La  Famille  de  Madame  Brissot  in  La  Revolution  Frangaise, 

Lix,  270-74,  Sept.  14,  1910. 

Sur  I'authenticite  des  Memoires  de  Brissot.  In  La  Revolu- 
tion Frangaise,  aoAt,  1904,  xlvii,  121-34. 

UnProjet  de  Brissot  pour  une  association  agricole.    In  La 

Revolution  Frangaise,  mars,  1902,  xlii,  260-65. 

Sorel,  Albert.  Un  General  diplomate.  In  La  Revue  des  Deux  Mau- 
des, juin  15,  ao(it  1,  aofit  15, 1884,  third  period,  lxiv,  302-32, 575-606, 
789-829. 

Turner,  Frederick  J.  The  origin  of  Genet's  Projected  Attack  on 
Louisiana  and  the  Floridas.  In  the  American  Historical  Review,  July, 
1898,  III,  650-71. 

Documents  on  the  Relations  of  France  to  Louisiana,  1792-95. 

In  the  American  Historical  Review,  April,  1898,  iii,  490-516. 

L'Intermediaire  des  Chercheurs  et  des  Curieux.  Article  signed 
G.  D.,  Oct.  10,  1891,  XXIV,  777. 

Gives  information  as  to  the  descendants  of  Brissot. 

L'Intermediaire  des  Chercheurs  et  des  Curieux,  xxin;  707;  xxiv, 
62.  Inquiry  signed  L.  C.  Answer  signed  Maurice  Tourneux. 

Inquiry  and  answer  covering  an  alleged  letter  of  the  Baron  Grim,  as- 
serting that  Brissot  had  been  a  police  spy. 

The  Monthly  Review,  xxxvi,  593,  and  vi  (enlarged  series),  531-43. 
Book  reviews  of  De  la  France  and  Le  Nouveau  Voyage. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abbaye  (prison),  363,  367-368. 

Ades  des  Apotres,  107, 120,  212  n.,  217, 
243  n.,  4-47  n. 

Adams.  John,  25,  69,  74. 

Adams,  Samuel,  75. 

Adelaide,  Madame,  21  n. 

Albany,  410. 

Alembert  (d').  13,  19  n.,  21. 

Alexandria,  435. 

Allais,  162. 

Allier,  Department  of  the,  352-353 
notes,  356-357  notes,  358-359  notes, 
361-362  notes. 

Alsace,  227  n. 

Amar,  369.  371.  372.  377. 

America.   See  United  States. 

Ami  du  Peuple,  119-120,  224  n., 
271  n.,  333,  357  n. 

Ami  du  Roi,  217.  234  and  n..  276. 

Amis  des  Noirs,  Brissot's  part  in 
founding,  1-2.  40,  67.  96;  connec- 
tion with  like  societies  in  America. 
78;  addresses  of,  sent  to  municipal 
assembly,  105-106;  mentioned,  121; 
incentive  to  organization  of,  182- 
184;  assistance  given  to.  by  Mira- 
beau,  183-185  and  n.,  193-194  and 
notes;  first  meeting  of.  184-185; 
first  president  of.  185;  efforts  of 
Brissot  to  secure  members  for,  186; 
assistance  given  to.  by  Lafayette, 
186-187;  connection  of,  with  Con- 
dorcet.  187;  constitution  of.  187- 
188;  condition  of,  during  Brissot's 
absence  in  America.  189;  address 
of,  on  opening  of  the  States-Gen- 
eral, 189  and  n.;  relation  of,  to  aboli- 
tion of  slave  trade,  189-190.  197- 
199;  letter  of,  to  deputies,  190;  as- 
sistance of  Clarkson  to.  190-194  and 
notes;  plans  of,  191-192;  opposition 
to,  of  Club  de  Massiac,  194,  196;  re- 
lation of,  to  States-General,  195- 
201  and  notes;  relation  of,  to  ad- 
mission of  deputies  from  Santo- 
Domingo  to  States-General,  195-196 
and  notes;  relation  of,  to  admission 


of  mulattoes  to  rights  of  citizenship, 
196-197,  200-201,  208-212;  rela- 
tion of.  to  self-government  of  colo- 
nies. 196.  199-201;  efforts  of  Brissot 
to  interest  the  municipal  govern- 
ment of  Paris  in  work  of.  197.  198  n.; 
attitude  of,  toward  immediate  aboli- 
tion of  slavery,  198;  address  of,  to 
National  Assembly,  198  and  n.,  200, 
and  n.;  attitude  of,  toward  decrees 
of  March  8  and  October  12.  1790, 
199-203;  opposition  to.  203-205. 
212-215;  attitude  of.  toward  decree 
of  May  15,  1791,  206-212;  accusa- 
tions against  Brissot  as  leader  of, 
212-215;  Brissot's  reputation  as 
leader  of,  217;  list  of  members  of, 
442-447. 

Amsterdam,  317,  436. 

Andover,  69  n. 

Angers.  Jacobin  Society  of,  206. 

Anthoine.  288. 

Antiquarian  Society  Papers,  quoted, 
66,  71,  72,  73,  85,  221,  399  n.,  433- 
434. 

Antonelle,  382  n.,  383. 

Antwerp.  317. 

Arbaud,  M.  Paul.  34  n. 

Argental  (d').  21  and  n. 

Argenteuil,  rue  d',  379,  381. 

Argus  Patriote,  217-218. 

Artois,  Count  d',  274-275,  294. 

Assembly,  National  (first),  mentioned, 
98.  102-104.  109-110,  118-119, 
121  n..  123-124,  132.  139-145.  147- 
149.  153-154.  156.  158.  168,  170- 
171.  180.  191,  197-210,  212,  217. 

Avignon,  142,  143  n.,  417. 

Aublay,  M.,  401. 

Aublay  (Madame).  See  Dupont, 
Nancy. 

Auger,  120  n. 

August  10,  work  of  Assembly  after, 
293-302. 

Aulard.  F.  A.,  quoted,  56  and  n.,  78  n., 
125  n.,  161,  175,  194  n.,  232  n.,  281, 
300  n.,  324  n..  417-418,  422,  427  n. 


512 


INDEX 


Austria,  236,  239-240,  250-251,  272, 
275,  284-,  302,  317,  339,  374. 

"Austrian  Committee,"  272-275  and 
notes,  379-380,  423. 

Auvergne,  272  n. 

Babillard,  Le,  217,  218  n.,  222  and  n. 

Baillard,  426  and  n. 

Bailly,  96.  104,  138,  179,  357  n.,  379- 
380. 

Bale,  313. 

Bangal  des  Issarts,  121  and  n.,  144  n., 
151,  161,  172,  175  n.,  202  n.,  253. 

Barbaroux,  324  n.,  327,  334. 

Barbier,  243  n. 

Barentin,  445  n. 

Barere,  336,  368  n.,  369. 

Barett,  435. 

Bariow,  Joel,  86. 

Barnave,  42  7i.,  135,  181,  200,  201  and 
n.,  202,  213  n.,  309. 

Barthelemy,  354. 

Bastille,  imprisonment  of  Brissot  in, 
24,  27,  29,  32-33,  368,  392;  men- 
tioned, 97  and  n.,  98,  203,  332,  368. 

Bayonne,  360. 

Bazire,  328. 

Beau,  352,  354  n. 

Beaugency,  379. 

Beaulieu,  219  and  n. 

Beaumarchais,  30  n.,  53,  399. 

Beaupoil  Saint- Aulaire,  186  and  n. 

Beauvais  de  Preau,  451. 

Beccaria,  45,  56. 

Becquet,  247,  251. 

Belgium,  252,  316-317,  329-331,  375. 

Bentham,  Jeremy,  25  and  n.,  391  n. 

Benzelin,  275  n. 

Bergasse,  Nicholas,  37  and  n.,  38  and 
n.,  152. 

Beriin,  54,  250,  320,  439. 

Bernardin,  de  Saint  Pierre,  186,  197  n. 

Berne,  22,  313. 

Berne,  Economic  Society  of,  14. 

Bertrand  de  Mole\nlle,  141  and  n., 
273-274  and  notes,  287. 

Besangon,  Academy  of,  19  n.,  20  n. 

Beverly,  69  n. 

Bexon,  140. 

Bibliotheque,  Section  of.  See  Muni- 
cipality. 

Biderman,  120  n.,  420. 

Bigot  de  Preameneu,  451. 

Billaud-Varennes,  300,  360. 


Blanchelande,  209,  449-^50. 

Blot,  7  and  n.,  8,  39,  121,  151. 

Boileau,  383. 

Bonconseil,  Section  of,  333. 

Bonne-Carrere,  265,  280  and  n.,  291  n. 

Bonneville,  120  n.,  121  n. 

Bordeaux,  152,  162,  203  and  n.,  213, 
380-381. 

Bosc,  121  and  n.,  122,  367. 

Boston,  69  and  n.,  71-72,  74-75. 

Bouille,  Marquis  de,  158-159,  169  n. 

Boulogne,  14-16,  387  and  n.,  388,  398, 
401. 

Bourbon,  314. 

Bourbon,  He  de,  250. 

Bourdon,  378  and  n. 

Bourges,  336. 

Brabant,  237,  284, 

Brach,  186  and  n. 

Breteuil,  30  n.,  32. 

Brienne,  51,  187. 

Brissot,  Jacques  Pierre,  reasons  for 
writing  the  life  of,  1-3;  reputation 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution, 
1;  reasons  why  biography  has  not 
been  written,  1-3;  early  writings 
permeated  with  revolutionary  doc- 
trines, 2;  parentage,  4;  birth,  4  and 
n.;  name,  4  and  n.;  baptism,  4;  love 
of  study  and  reading,  4-6,  7;  inter- 
est of  mother  of,  in  his  studies,  4-6; 
opposition  of  father  of,  to  education 
of  children,  4-5,  6;  brothers  and  sis- 
ters of,  4  and  n.,  5;  schooling,  5-6; 
choice  of  legal  profession,  6;  trea- 
tise of,  on  canon  law,  7;  Rome  dS- 
masquS,  7;  essay  on  theft  and  prop- 
erty, 7 ;  study  of  languages,  7 ; 
thoughts  of  marriage,  7-8,  16;  re- 
ligious experience,  8-10;  reading  of 
Rousseau,  Voltaire,  and  Diderot, 
8-9;  conversion  to  deism,  9;  Lettres 
philosophiques  sur  la  vie  et  les  icrits 
de  Saint  Paul,  9  and  n.,  25,  41-42. 
120  n.;  opposition  to  family  on 
matters  of  religion,  9-10;  aspira- 
tion for  a  career  in  Paris  gratined, 
10-11;  addition  of  "de  Warville " 
to  name,  10  and  n.,  11;  arrival  in 
Paris,  11  and  n.;  life  in  Paris,  11-14; 
plans  for  presentation  of  plays  in 
foreign  languages,  11;  devotion  to 
a  literary  career  in  company  with 


INDEX 


513 


Guillard,  11-12;  difficulty  in  gain- 
ing livelihood,  li;  Le  Pot  pourri,  12; 
threat  of  letire  de  cachet,  12;  illness, 
12;  plans  for  reform  of  laws  and  legal 
institutions,  13-14,  19-21;  Theorie 
des  lots  criminelles,  13-14,  18-19; 
45-47  and  notes,  52,  54  n.,  55,  372; 
Testament  'politique  de  V Angleterre, 
13;  Pyrrhonisme  universelle,  13;  writ- 
ings on  laws  and  political  institu- 
tions, 13,  18-20,  25,  36-37,  49-55; 
employment  by  Swinton  on  the 
Courrier,  13-15;  dismissal  by  Swin- 
ton, 15;  Reponse  a  tous  les  libellistes, 
quoted,  14,  30,  32-33,  49,  53-54,  68, 
220-221  notes;  unsuccessful  appli- 
cation to  father  for  aid,  15-16;  re- 
turn to  Paris,  16;  work  for  Linguet, 
16;  death  of  father,  17;  legacy  from 
father,  17;  insanity  of  mother,  17; 
scientific  study,  17;  interest  in  Ma- 
rat, 17;  resumption  of  study  for  the 
bar  and  final  abandonment  of  a  legal 
career,  18;  winning  of  prizes  on  sub- 
ject of  legal  reform,  19-20;  S'lV  etait 
dudesindemnites,  19;  Quellespovrrai- 
ent  etre  en  France  les  his  penales,  19; 
Des  funestes  ejfets  de  I'egoisme,  19  n.; 
Un  Independant  d  I'ordre  des  avocats, 

19,  47  n.,  52,  55  and  n.,  Biblotheque 
philosophique,  19  n.,  20,  36,  44-46 
and  notes,  49-50  notes,  52, 55  andn., 
57, 133  and  n.,  372;  De  la  Verite,  19- 

20,  52;  Histoire  universelle  de  la  legis- 
lation crimineUe,  20;  establishment 
and  failure  of  the  Lycee,  20-21,  25- 
30,  33  and  n.,  219;  journey  to  Swit- 
zerland, 21;  engagement,  18,  389; 
marriage,  22-23,  389;  Le  Philadel- 
phien  a  Geneve,  22,  25,  50  n.,  52; 
connection  in  London  with  libel 
writers,  23-24;  acquaintance  in 
London  with  men  and  women  of 
note,  24-26;  joined  in  London  by 
wife,  25,  390-391;  trouble  with 
Desforges.  25,  30,  391;  La  Corre- 
spondance,  26,  29,  52,  53  n.,  54,  113, 
372;  Tableau  exact  des  sciences  et 
des  arts  en  Angleterre,  26,  54,  372, 
391;  Tableau  des  Indes,  26,  52-53; 
birth  of  a  son,  26,  391-392;  arrest 
for  debt  and  release,  27,  391-392; 
departure  for  France,  27,  392;  arrest 
and  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille, 


27,  392;  Lettre  aux  Hecturs,  28  n., 
220  n.;  Journal  de  Lycee,  29;  Repli- 
que  de  Brissot,  29,  220,  221,  222 
notes;  accusations  against  of  impli- 
cation in  libels,  30-33;  release  from 
Bastille  through  efforts  of  friends, 
32,  392;  accusation  of  responsibil- 
ity for  Le  Diable  dans  un  beniiicr, 
30-32,  321;  help  received  from  Cla- 
viere  and  from  mother-in-law,  33; 
birth  of  second  child,  33  and  n.,  395; 
financial  difficulties,  34;  collabora- 
tion with  Claviere  in  work  for  Mira- 
beau,  34;  work  for  Mirabeau,  34-36; 
collaboration  in  Caisse  d'escompte, 
34;  collaboration  in  the  Banque  de 
Saint  Charles,  34;  trouble  with 
Mirabeau  over  manuscript,  35  and 
n.,  L'Autorite  legislative  de  Rome 
aneantie,  36,  41,  147;  translation  of 
Travels  in  Europe,  in  Asia,  and  in 
Africa,  36  and  n.;  Un  Defenseur  du 
Peuple  a  V  Empereur  Joseph  II,  36 
and  n.,  53  n.,  55;  Lettre  a  l' Empereur 
sur  VAirocite  des  supplices,  36  and 
n.,  55,  372;  L'Examen  critique  des 
voyages  dans  VAmerique  septention- 
ale  de  M.  le  Marquis  de  Chatellux, 
36  and  n.,  52,  55  and  n.,  59-60;  in- 
terest in  scientific  studies,  37  and 
n.;  plans  for  the  Societe  Gallo-Ameri- 
caine,  37;  Denonciation  au  public 
d'un  nouveau  projet  d' agiotage,  37 
and  n.;  Seconde  lettre  contre  la  com- 
pagnie  d'assurance,  37  and  n.,  con- 
nection with  Bergasse  in  political 
reform,  38;  work  for  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  38-39;  Paint  de  banque- 
route.  37  and  n.,  50  n.,  51,  53  n.,  183; 
Lettres  philosophiques  et  polifiquessur 
Vhistoire  de  U Angleterre,  37  and  n.. 
372,  383;  Un  mot  aux  academiciens. 
37;  De  la  France  et  des  Etats-Unis, 
37,  48  and  n.,  52,  55  and  n.,  63-66 
and  notes,  69,  90,  121;  attitude 
toward  republicanism  and  dethrone- 
ment, 38,  128,  165,  253-255,  269. 
181,  276-292,  363-366,  371-374. 
379-380,  412-413,  419;  threat  of 
lettre  de  cachet,  39;  visit  to  England 
and  Holland.  39  and  n.;  Recherchex 
philosophiques  sur  la  propriete  et  le 
vol,  43-44,  46  n.,  266-267;  work 
against  the  slave  trade,  40,  59-60; 


514 


INDEX 


influences  seen  in  early  writings,  41 ; 
subjects  of  early  writings,  41-48; 
Moyens  d'adoucir  en  France  la 
rigueur  des  lois  penales,  45-47  and 
notes,  49;  Le  Sang  innocent  venge, 
45-47  and  notes,  55;  writings  on 
the  United  States,  48-50;  Observa- 
tions d'un  rSpublicain,  50,  148,  164; 
ideal  for  universal  brotherhood,  52- 
53,  419,  427;  trouble  with  the  cen- 
sorship, 53-416;  opinion  concerning 
rights  of  Jews,  53,  146,  416;  anony- 
mous publications,  54;  style  of 
writing,  56;  significance  of  early 
writings  in  connection  with  later 
career,  57-58;  criticism  of  writings 
of  by  Monthly  Retnetv,  66  n.;  jour- 
ney to  America,  66-90;  RepubUque 
a  Stanislas  Chermont,  68  n.,  84  n.; 
Nouveau  Voyage,  69  n.,  70-84  notes, 
90  n.;  reasons  for  publication  of 
Nouveau  Voyage,  88,  90,  315;  rela- 
tion to  federalism,  90,  172,  342- 
356,  379-380,  412,  414,  419;  return 
to  France,  91;  at  opening  of  the 
States-General,  91-96;  failure  of 
election  to  the  States-General,  95- 
96;  work  as  a  municipal  politician, 
91-112;  Plan  de  conduite,  92-94, 
124,  135,  148,  165;  Observations  sur 
la  necessite  d'etablir  .  .  .  des  comites 
de  correspondance,  93  and  n.,  127  n.; 
Discours  prononce  au  district  des 
Filles-Saint-Thomas,  94  n.,  100  n.; 
PrScis  adresse  a  V assemblee  generate 
des  electeurs  de  Paris  pour  servir  d 
la  redaction  des  doleances  de  cette 
ville,  94  n.,  95;  Motifs  des  commis- 
saires  pour  adopter  le  plan  de  muni- 
cipaliti,  99 :  Observations  surle  plan  de 
municipality  de  Paris,  99  n. ;  Opinion 
.  .  .  sur  la  question  de  savoir  si  Paris 
sera  le  centre  d'un  departement,  101 
n.;  opinion  on  questions  of  finance, 
102-104, 147-149, 151-154,265-266, 
359  and  n.;  opinion  on  ecclesiastical 
questions,  102-103,  111-112;  144- 
147,  259-261;  296;  Motion  sur  la 
necessite  de  circonscire  la  vente  des 
biens  eccUsiastiques  aux  municipali- 
tes,  103,  111  n.;  Discours  stir  la 
rarete  du  numeraire  et  sur  les  moyens 
d'y  remedier,  104  n.,  152  «.;  interest 
in    development    of    local    govern- 


ment, 105;  Discours  prononcS  &  la 
section  de  la  Bibliotheque  dans  son 
assemblee  generate  .  .  .  sur  la  ques- 
tion du  renvoi  des  ministres,  104  n.; 
Reflexions  sur  Vetat  de  la  Society 
des  electeurs  patriotes  sur  ses  travaux, 
sur  les  formes  propres  a  faire  de 
bonnes  elections,  105  n.;  Rapport 
dans  r affaire  de  MM.  Dhosier  et 
Petit-Jean,  108  n.;  A  Stariislas 
Clermont,  108  n.,  109  n.;  Replique  cL 
Stanislas  Clermont,  109  n.;  Lettre  a 
M.  le  Chevalier  de  Pange,  109  n.; 
work  as  editor  of  the  Patriote  Fran- 
qais,  113-181;  Discours  sur  V or- 
ganisation de  comites,  119  n.;  A  tous 
les  republicains  de  France,  121  n., 
346;  Discours  sur  les  conventions, 
133  /(.;  opinion  on  foreign  affairs, 
142-143,  295;  attitude  toward  de- 
mocracy, 159-165,  180-181,  259, 
324,  325-327,  414-417;  attitude 
toward  women,  162;  attitude  toward 
socialistic  ideas,  162-163,  416;  La 
profession  de  foi  sur  la  monarchic  et 
sur  la  republicainisme,  173-175; 
Discours  sur  la  question  de  savoir  si 
le  roi  pent  etre  juge,  175-177  and 
notes,  231  and  n.;  attitude  toward 
Lafayette,  180,  193  and  7i.,  224,  241, 
268-269,  276,  289,  296,  308-309, 
337,  357  n.,  370  and  n.,  378-380; 
relation  to  the  Societe  des  Amis  des 
Noirs.  182-215;  Discours  sur  la 
necessite  d'etablir  a  Paris  une  so- 
ciete pour  concourir  avec  celle  du 
Londres,  a  Vabolition  de  la  traite  et 
de  Vesclavage  des  negres,  185;  Me- 
moire  sur  les  noirs  de  V Amerique 
septentrionale,  189  and  n.;  Reflexions 
sur  radmission  aux  ]£tats-Generaux 
des  deputes  de  Saint-Domingue,  196 
and  n.;  Discours  sjir  la  necessite.  de 
maintenir  le  decret  rendu  le  15  mai 
1791  enfaveur  des  hommes  de  couleur 
libres,  207  and  n.;  election  to  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  216-224,  451; 
accusations  against  at  time  of  can- 
didacy, 217-223;  comments  made  on 
election  of  Brissot,  224;  address  on 
receiving  the  election,  224-225;  posi- 
tion of  in  the  Legislative  Assembly, 
225-226,  258;  Discours  sur  Vorgani- 
sation  des  comitSs,  226  and  n.;  elected 


INDEX 


5li 


one  of  secretaries  of  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  226;  membership  in  Dip- 
lomatic Committee  of  Legislative 
Assembly,  226-227,  229,  375;  advo- 
cacy of  foreign  war,  230-257;  rela- 
tion to  Jacobin  Club,  232-234,  236; 
Discours  sur  la  necessite  de  declarer 
la  guerre,  233  and  n. ;  Second  discours 
sur  la  necessite  de  faire  la  guerre, 
238  n.;  Troisieme  discourse  sur  la 
necessite  de  la  guerre,  2-11  n.;  attacks 
on,  because  of  his  advocacy  of  war, 
242-244  and  notes,  271-272;  attack 
on  Delessart,  243-249  and  notes, 
261-262,  375,  379-381;  efforts  to  ob- 
tain foreign  alliance,  256,  317-318; 
Replique  a  la  premiere  el  derniere 
letire  de  Louis  Marthe  Gouy,  254  and 
n.;  Discours  sur  la  nScessite  de  sus- 
pendre  momentavAmeni  le  paiement 
des  liquidations  au-dessus  de  8000 1., 
259  n. ;  opinion  on  ecclesiastical  ques- 
tions, 259-261;  opinion  on  financial 
questions,  259  and  n.;  leader  of 
Girondins,  201-266  and  notes,  281- 

291,  419-421;  attitude  on  discipline, 
265-266;  attacks  on,  266-272,  280 
and  n.;  attack  on  "Austrian  Com- 
mittee," 272-275  and  notes,  379- 
380;  Premiere  lettre  a  Dumouriez, 
280;  wavering  attitude  toward  mon- 
archy, 280-291,  412-413,  419;  atti- 
tude toward  events  of  June  20,  281- 
282  and  notes;  Discours  sur  les  causes 
des  dangers  de  la  patrie  et  sur  les 
mesures  a  prendre,  284  n.;  Opinion 
sur  les  mesures  de  police  generale 
proposees  par  M.  Gensonne,  286  n.; 
Opinion  sur  la  marche  a  suitre  en 
examinant  la  question  de  la  decheance 
et  les  autres  mesures.  286  n.,  attitude 
toward  events  of  August  10,   291- 

292,  294-295,  363,  379-381,  412- 
483;  attitude  toward  second  Giron- 
din  ministry,  292  and  n.;  work  as 
member  of  the  Committee  of  Twen- 
ty-one of  the  Legislative  Assembly, 
292-294  and  notes,  296,  298,  301- 
302,  414;  attitude  toward  Swiss 
troops,  294  and  n. ;  address  to  foreign 
powers,  295;  Projet  de  declaration  de 
V  Assemblee  nationale,  295  n.;  atti- 
tude toward  the  Commune  of  Pa- 
ris, 296-303  and  notes;  accusation 


against,  of  plotting  to  put  upon  the 
throne  the  Duke  of  York  or  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick,  300  and  n.,  363, 
412;  accusation  of,  for  connection 
with  the  massacres  of  September, 
301,  380-381,  413-414;  election  to 
Convention,  303-304;  member  of 
the  Committee  on  the  Constitution. 
304,  324  n.;  member  of  the  Diplo- 
matic Committee,  304,  316-317,  342, 
376;  attitude  toward  the  abolition  of 
royalty,  304,  305,  332,  363,  379-380. 
412-413;  opposition  to  centraliza- 
tion, 306-307,  350;  support  given 
to  Buzot  against  Jacobins,  307;  A 
Tous  les  rSpublicains  de  France,  308; 
support  given  to  Dumouriez,  310, 
413;  attitude  toward  revolutionary 
propanganda  and  annexations,  310- 
312  and  notes;  A  ses  Commettans, 
311  and  n.;  attitude  toward  Swiss 
cantons  and  Geneva,  312-314;  atti- 
tude toward  Spain,  314;  attitude 
toward  Spanish  America  and  fur- 
therance of  Genet's  expedition,  314- 
316  and  notes;  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  General  Defense,  316  and 
n.,  318-320;  attitude  toward  Com- 
mittee of  Public  Safety,  316  n.,  328; 
attitude  toward  opening  of  the 
Scheldt,  316-319,  376;  attitude 
toward  war  with  England,  317-324, 
439-441,  452;  attitude  on  king's 
trial  and  death,  317-318,  321-324, 
419;  attack  on,  as  alleged  royalist, 
328;  attacks  on,  as  leader  of  the 
Girondins,  328-332;  attempt  of 
Danton  to  conciliate,  331;  attack 
on,  for  alleged  conspiracy  with 
Dumouriez,  332-333;  accusation  of 
ha\-ing  accumulated  wealth,  333  and 
n.;  attack  on  Marat,  334;  defense 
against  attacks  of  sections  of  Paris 
and  of  Robespierre,  335;  Sur  la  dS- 
nonciation  de  Robespierre  et  sur  Vad- 
dresse  pretee  aux  quarante-huit  sec- 
tions de  Paris,  335  n.;  attack  on 
Mountain  in  pamphlet,  A  ses  Com- 
mettans, 337-341  and  notes;  accusa- 
tion of  being  an  Orleanist,  337,  412- 
413;  expulsion  from  the  Conven- 
tion, 341-342,  350-352;  refuge  at 
house  of  Meillan,  351-352;  flight 
from  Paris  to  Versailles,  352;  flight 


516 


INDEX 


in  company  with  Souque  toChartres, 
352;  cold  reception  at  Chartres, 
353;  flight  toward  Orleans,  353;  ar- 
rest and  examination  at  Moulins, 
354r-355;  confession  of  identity,  355; 
appeal  to  the  Convention,  356-358; 
connection  with  district  of  Gannat, 
358-359;  help  offered  to  by  Mar- 
chena,  360;  hostile  demonstration 
against  at  Moulins,  356-357;  trans- 
portation back  to  Paris,  361-362; 
imprisonment  at  Paris,  362-363;  ar- 
raignment with  other  Girondins  by 
Saint  Just,  362-364;  answer  to  ar- 
raignment of  Saint  Just,  364-367; 
responsibility  of  Brissot  for  war,  366, 
370-371,  374-376;  appeals  while  in 
prison  to  the  Convention,  368-369; 
indictment  of,  by  Amar,  369-371; 
relation  to  colonial  policy,  371-375, 
379-380,  413-418,  448-450;  Projet 
de  defense,  371-376;  accusations 
against,  376-377,  448-450;  promi- 
nence in  trial  as  leader  of  the  Giron- 
dins, 377;  preliminary  examination, 
377;  choice  of  lawyer,  377;  witness 
against,  378;  testimony  against  at 
trial,  379-380;  defense  at  trial,  380- 
381;  value  of  defense,  381;  verdict 
against,  383-384;  last  hours  and 
execution  384-386  and  notes;  family 
life,  387-403;  proposal  for  hand  of 
Swinton's  daughter,  388;  relation 
with  wife's  family,  398-402;  in  gen- 
eral principles  a  typical  Girondin, 
4 1 2-4 1 9 ;  difference  from  other  Giron- 
dins in  wider  outlook  and  greater 
cosmopolitanism,  417,  427;  in  re- 
gard to  the  other  Girondins  how  far 
a  leader,  419-421;  divergent  views 
as  to  fitness  for  leadership,  and 
character,  421;  appearance,  426. 
See  also  Amis  des  Nairs,  Municipal- 
ity, Patriots  Frangais,  and  United 
States. 

Brissot,  Edme,  Augustine,  Sylvain, 
393,  408-410. 

Brissot,  Felix,  393,  399,  410. 

Brissot,  Jacques,  Jer6me,  Anacharsis, 
393,  410  and  n. 

Brissot,  Madame.   See  Felicite. 

Brissotins,  225,  235,  249,  301-303, 
309,  330;  Histoire  de,  336-337,  420- 
422. 


Bristol,  69  n. 

Britain,  318. 

Brookfield,  69  n. 

Brother-in-law,    Brissot's.      See   Du- 

pont,  Frangois. 
Broussonet,  120  n.,  451. 
Brunswick,  Duke  of,  299,  300  and  n., 

371,  412. 
Buisson,  114  and  n.,  115. 
Bulletin    du    tribunal    revolutionnaire, 

381,  384. 
Bunker  Hill,  231. 
Burke,  218,  340-341  notes. 
Bumey,  Fanny,  24,  426  n. 
Buzot,  126,  171,  186,  306  n.,  307,  327, 

334,  342,  344-345,  348,  420,  422, 

426. 
Buzotins,  346,  420. 

Cahen,  188  n. 

Caisse  d'escompte.  See  Brissot. 

Calas  case,  21  n. 

Calonne,  34  n.,  35  and  n.,  61  and  n. 

Calvados,  Department  of,  345. 

Cambon,  282,  311  n. 

Cambridge,  69  n.,  74. 

Cambridge,  University  of,  183. 

Camus,  153  and  n. 

Capet.   See  Louis  XVI. 

Carolina,  North,  84. 

Carra,  184. 

Cazenove,  66  n.,  67  and  n. 

Cercle  social,  161,  172. 

Cerutti,  451. 

Chabot,  281,  378-380. 

Chalons-sur-Marne,  Academy  of,  19, 

287  n. 
Chambon,  17. 
Chambonas,    284-285,    287    and    n., 

424. 
Champagneux,  151  and  n.,  367. 
Champ  de  Mars,  petition  of,  177-179, 

337,  370-371. 
Champs  Ely  sees,  164. 
Channel,  the  English,  27,  401,  436. 
Chant  du  Coq,  217  and  n.,  218  n. 
Charavay,  68  n.,  217  n.,  218  n. 
Charles  I,  285. 
Chartres,  mentioned,  4-7,  10,  39,  94, 

186  n.,  220,  222  and  n.,  223,  352- 

353. 
Chartres,  Duke  of,  21  and  n.,  312-33, 

389. 
Chasse,  145. 


INDEX 


517 


Chastellux,  Marquis  de,  36  and  n.,  52, 
55,  59-61,  67,  77,  79,  183. 

Chaumette,  378  and  n. 

Chaveau  de  la  Garde,  138  n.,  377  and 
n.,  382  and  n. 

Chauvelin,  250  and  n.,  375. 

Chester,  69  n. 

Chatelet,  96,  138. 

Choderlos  de  Laclos,  166,  177-178 
and  n. 

Ckronique  de  Paris,  120. 

Chronique  du  Mois,  120  and  n.,  262, 
326. 

Clarkson,  Thomas,  185  and  n.,  190- 
194,  422. 

Claretie,  218  n. 

Claviere,  Etienne,  relation  to  Brissot, 
22  and  n. ;  financial  assistance  given 
to  Brissot,  34;  collaboration  with 
Brissot  in  work  for  Mirabeau,  34 
and  n.,  35  and  n.;  collaboration  with 
Brissot  in  De  la  France  et  des  dtats- 
Unis,  48,  55  n.,  63-66  and  notes,  90; 
connection  wth  Societe  Gallo-Ameri- 
caine,  61-63;  connection  with  Bris- 
sot in  American  speculation,  66-67, 
72-73,  89,  431,  437-439;  connection 
with  Brissot  at  opening  of  States- 
General,  91;  connection  with  Chro- 
nique du  Mois,  120  n.;  connection 
with  Patriate  Fran^ais,  121;  con- 
nection \s'ith  republicanism,  169, 
171,  276;  connection  with  the  Amis 
des  Noirs,  184-185,  191-192,  205- 
206,  442;  in  the  ministry,  249,  262 
and  n.,  279;  mentioned,  247,  420. 

Clermont,  172. 

Clermont-Tonnerre,  Stanislas,  68  n., 
108  and  n.,  109  n.,  165-166. 

Cleves,  253  n. 

Clive,  72  n. 

Cloots,  253  and  n.,  310  n.,  344,  346, 
348,  422. 

Coblenz,  233-234,  271,  363. 

Collot  d'Herbois,  120  n. 

Colons  Blancs,  Club  de.  See  Massiac, 
Club  de. 

Comite  de  Recherches.  See  Municipal- 
ity; also  Paris. 

Committee  of  Public  Safety,  293,  340. 

Committee  of  Twenty-one.  See  Legis- 
lative Assembly. 

Commune,  struggle  of,  with  Legisla- 
tive Assembly,   292,   296-302  and 


notes;  struggle  of  Brissot  against, 
296-302  and  notes,  308,  328,  333. 
Conciergerie,  363,  371  and  n.,  384  n., 

386. 
Condorcet,  connection  with  Amis  des 
Noirs,  184  n.,  187-188,  191,  212, 
443;  attitude  toward  republicanism, 
251,  276-277;  mentioned,  19  n.,  32, 
120  n.,  154,  171-172,  180,  213  n., 
221,  237,  250,  269,  and  n.,  270  n., 
299  and  n.,  305,  318,  338,  n.,  420, 
426,  452. 
Confederation  des  Amis  de  la  Verite, 

161. 
Constantinople,  264,  379. 
Constituent  Assembly,  19  n.,  113,  124, 
182,  207,  223,  253  n.,  285  n.,  373, 
375. 
Conti,  Prince  de,  32  and  n. 
Convention,  election  of  Brissot  to, 
303-304;  general  position  of  Brissot 
in,  303;  membership  of  Brissot  in 
Diplomatic  Committee  of,  304,  342; 
membership  of  Brissot  in  Committee 
on  the  Constitution,  304;  abolition 
of  royalty  by,  304-305;  struggle  in, 
between  Girondins  and  Mountain 
(Jacobins),  305-308;  attitude  of, 
toward  revolutionary  propaganda, 
310-312  and  notes;  attitude  of, 
toward  Swiss  cantons  and  Geneva, 
312-314;  attitude  of,  toward  Spanish 
America  and  Genet's  expedition, 
314-316  and  notes;  Committee  of 
General  Defense  of,  315,  316  and 
n.,  318-320;  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  of,  293,  315  7?.,  358,  362-363, 
368;  attitude  of,  toward  opening  of 
the  Scheldt,  316-319;  attitude  of, 
on  king's  trial,  318,  321-324;  dis- 
cussion of  war  question  by,  318-324; 
Committee  of  General  Security  of, 
324,  328,  369  n.,  403,  405;  final 
struggle  in,  between  Girondins  and 
Mountain  supported  by  Commune 
of  Paris,  351;  Committee  of  Legisla- 
tion of,  369  n.,  mentioned,  20  n.,  25 
n.,  117,  123,  125  n.,  141,  153  n.,  181, 
186  n.,  238  n.,  253  n.,  293,  299,  302, 
305,  306  and  n.,  307-308,  310-311, 
314,  316  and  n.,  318,  319,  321-324, 
329,  332-339,  345,  347,  349-351; 
355,  356-359,  361-364,  366,  368, 
370,377,378/1.,  383,426  n.,  440,450. 


518 


INDEX 


Copenhagen,  34. 

Cordeliers,  166  n.,  179  n.,  330. 

Corps  Legislatif,  352  n. 

Courrier  des  De partements,  120,  348  n. 

Courrier  de  V  Europe,  13-15, 24,  27,  219. 

Courtois,  403. 

Craigie,  Andrew,  66  and  n.,  71-73  and 

notes,  85  and  n.,  89-90  notes,  433- 

438. 
Crette,  de  Paluel,  451. 
Crevecceur,  Saint  John  de,  59-61,  63, 

67,  70  n.,  186,  431. 

Danton,  connection  with  Brissot,  138, 
166  n.,  173, 186  n.,  221,  292,  301,  306 
and  n.,  mentioned,  2,  104,  308  n., 
330-331,  366,  378  n.,  414,  422, 426  n. 
Dard,  179  and  n. 
Dauban,  348. 
Daverhoult,  230-231. 
De  Bourges,  191. 
De  Graves,  261-263. 
Delacroix,  97  n. 
Delaunay,  32. 
Delaware,  82. 

Delessart,  attack  of  Brissot  on,  244- 
249  and  notes,  261-262,  272,  379- 
380,  420. 
De  Moustier,  69,  70  n. 
De  Pons,  213  n. 
De  Saint-fitienne,  125  and  n. 
Descombes,  358  and  n.,  359. 
Desfaix,  378  and  n. 
Desforges,  25-30,  219-221,  391-392, 

401,  426  n. 
Desmoulins,  Camille,  Jean  Pierre  Bris- 
sot demasque,  4  n.,  124,  218  n.,  242- 
244;   Histoire  des  Brissotins,   336- 
337  and  n.,   338,   421;  connection 
with  Brissot,  139,  167-168,  269, 301- 
302,    383,    400    n.;    Revolutions   de 
France  et  de  Brabant,  119,  138,  167 
and  n.,169  and  n.,  176  and  n.,  384  n.; 
mentioned,  378  n. 
Destoumelles,  328  and  n. 
Dhosier,  108  and  n. 
Diderot,  8,  56. 
Dietrich,  371. 

Dillon,  Arthur,  203-204,  364,  366. 
Directory,  352  n.,  407. 
Dodsley,  393. 
Dover,  391,  436. 
Droz,  20  n. 
Du  Barry,  Madame,  13,  30  n. 


Du  Chastellet,  171  and  n.,  172,  263. 

Du  Crest,  Marquis,  38-39. 

Duer,  William,  66, 69, 72-73  and  notes, 

85  and  n.,  433-436,  438. 
Duheim,  378  and  n. 
Dumont,  fitienne,  91  and  n.,  95  n., 
171  and  n.,  172  n.,  247-249,  261, 
263,  265,  277,  420-422. 
Dimias,  Mathieu,  240. 
Dumouriez,   249,  251,  262,   264-265, 
279-280,  n.,  285  n.,  309-310,  314  n., 
329,  332,  335,  337,  357  n.,  364,  366, 
371,  377,  404,  413. 
DuF>ont,  Felicite.   See  Felicite. 
Dupont,  Francis,  79  n.,  84,  85  and  n., 

89  n.,  398-401,  409,  435,  438. 
Dupont,  Julie  Henriette,  400. 
Dupont,  Madame,  kindness  to  Brissot, 
16,  387-388,  401;  loan  of  money  to 
him,  23,  33;  assistance  to  Brissot 
in  gaining  release  from  the  Bastille, 
27;  bearer  of  news  to  Felicite,  27, 
392,  401;  help  in  the  office  of  the 
Patriote  Frangais,  123,  396;  relied 
on   by  Felicite,    401-402;    care   of 
family  after  Brissot's  imprisonment, 
403;  project  of,  for  a  school,  407; 
opinion  of,  concerning  Brissot,  402 
n.,  425. 
Dupont,  Mademoiselle.   See  Felicite. 
Dupont,  Marie  Therese,  400. 
Dupont,  Nancy    (Madame   Aublay), 

397,  398,  400-401,  411. 
Dupont  de  Nemours,  Lomemie,  35  n. 
Duport,  136,  272  and  n.,  273-274. 
Duportail,  272  and  n. 
Duroveray,  22   and  n.,  250  and  n., 

264. 
Dussaulx,  120  n.,  241. 

Electoral  Assembly,  223-244  and  n. 

Elie  de  Beaumont,  21  and  n. 

Emigres,  attitude  of  Brissot  toward 
question  of,  227-232,  236,  252,  255- 
256. 

England,  15,  20,  23,  36,  37  n.,  39,  40  n., 
49,  54,  61,  73,  117,  143,  151,  176, 
182  and  n.,  184,  186  n.,  191,  214, 
220,  221,  235,  250,  273  and  n.,  275, 
285,  295,  299,  316,  318-320,  323- 
324,  339,  364,  366,  373-376,  389, 
404. 

Eure,  Department  of  the,  303  n., 
304  n. 


INDEX 


519 


Eure-et-Loir,  Department  of  the,  303 

n.,  304.  n,  352  n. 
Europe,  271,  294,  302,  310,  314,  317, 

318,  322,  323,  371,  372,  399,  427, 

433. 
Eury,  452. 

Fabre  d'Eglantine,  292,  378  and  n. 

Faguet,  M.,  418. 

Fairfield.  69  n. 

Falmouth,  85,  436. 

Faucompre,  361. 

Federalism.    See  Brissot;  also  Giron- 
dins. 

Felicite,  acquaintance  of,  made  by 
Brissot,  15-16,  387;  engagement  to 
Brissot,  18,  387-389;  marriage  to 
Brissot,  22-23,  389;  relation  to  Ma- 
dame de  Genlis,  23,  388-389;  life  in 
London,  26,  391-392;  birth  of  first 
child,  26;  news  broken  to,  of  Bris- 
sot's  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille, 
27,  392;  necessity  of  frugal  life  for, 
34;  literary  work,  37,  393  and  n.; 
interest  in  the  United  States  as  pos- 
sible place  of  abode,  81-82,  89,  394, 
396;  opinion  of,  concerning  the  Pa- 
triote  Frangais,  123  n.;  arrest  of, 
368  n.;  accusations  against,  in  con- 
nection with  Brissot's  arrest  and 
trial,  364,  366-368;  letters  of  Brissot 
to,  385;  part  in  Brissot's  career,  387; 
efforts  to  secure  release  of  Brissot 
from  Bastille,  392;  birth  of  second 
and  third  children,  393;  difficulties 
and  privations,  394-396;  character 
of,  395-398;  alienation  from  hus- 
band, 395;  troubles  of,  with  children, 
395,  408,  411;  pension  given  to,  and 
to  children  of,  407;  opinion  of,  con- 
cerning Brissot,  398;  appreciation  of, 
by  Brissot,  398,  402-403;  flight  of, 
after  arrest  of  Brissot,  403;  arrest 
and  examination  of,  403-404;  im- 
prisonment of,  405;  efforts  of,  to 
obtain  from  government  reimburse- 
ment of  losses,  406;  attempt  to  es- 
tablish a  school,  407;  application  of, 
to  government  for  aid,  408;  mainte- 
nance of  reading-room  by,  408;death 
and  burial  of,  410-411. 
Perri,  61  n. 

Fersen,  Count  de,  276  and  n. 
Feuillet  de  Conche,  250  n.,  276. 


Filangieri,  48,  56. 

Filles-Saint-Thomas,  289  n.  See  also 
Municipality. 

Fisher,  Miers,  69,  88,  89  n.,  399  n. 

Flanders,  283. 

Foreign  war.   See  War. 

Foucroy,  398. 

France,  235,  237,  240,  242,  246,  249- 
250,  253  n.,  254,  257,  273,  n.,  274  n., 
285  and  n.,  292,  294-296,  305,  310, 
311-314,  316-324,  335-337,  340, 
341  n.,  370-372,  376,  380,  391-392, 
412,  417,  427,  433-435. 

France,  Isle  de,  250. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  57,  69,  78,  184. 

Franklin,  Temple,  69. 

French  Scioto  Company.  See  Scioto 
Company,  French. 

Gallo-Americaine  Socieie,  37,  61-63 
and  note^,  70  n. 

Gannat,  358-360. 

Garat.  19  and  n.,  330-331,  338,  427. 

Garran  de  Coulon,  120  n.,  208  n.,  248. 

Gebelin,  7. 

Genet,  90,  314-316,  380. 

Geneva,  22  and  n.,  25,53,  250 n.,  287  n., 
312-314. 

Genlis,  Madame  de,  21  and  n.,  32,  33 
and  n.,  389-390. 

Genlis-Sillery,  Madame  de.  See  Gen- 
lis, Madame  de. 

Gensonne,  208  and  n.,  211.  220,  235, 
239,  247,  252,  2G5,  272,  274  n., 
275  n.,  281,  285  and  n.,  286  n.,  288, 
290,  309,  334,  351  and  n.,  383,  404, 
420  and  n.,  426. 

Gerle,  145. 

Germany,  236,  399. 

Gibbon,  24. 

Gien,  353. 

Girey-Dupre,  123  and  re.,  283  n.,  298, 
308  n.,  323  n.,  329  and  n.,  331,  334, 
404,  422. 

Girondin  ministry,  22  n.,  261-266  and 
notes;  Brissot's  influence  on,  289, 
309,  317,  379. 

Girondins,  Brissot's  connection  with, 
1-3,  181,  225,  261,  268,  272-278, 
282-291,  324,  412-423;  belliger- 
ency of,  251-257,  418-419;  attitude 
of,  toward  repubhcanism  and  de- 
thronement, 253-255,  276-291, 
412-419;  attack  of,    on  "Austrian 


520 


INDEX 


Committee,"  272-276  and  notes;  re- 
sponsibility of,  for  events  of  June 
20,  281  and  n.,  419;  accusation 
against,  of  plotting  to  overthrow 
the  republic,  299,  305  and  n.,  412; 
struggle  of,  with  Commune,  301- 
302,  305,  333;  opposition  of,  to 
centralization,  303;  efforts  of,  for 
a  departmental  guard,  305-306 
and  notes;  struggle  with  party  of 
the  Mountain  (Jacobins)  during 
the  Convention,  305-309,  327,  333, 
342,  351;  attitude  of,  toward  revo- 
lutionary propaganda,  310;  attitude 
of,  toward  death  and  trial  of  the  king, 
321;  attitude  of,  toward  war  with 
England,  324;  constitution  drawn 
up  by,  324  n.;  newspapers  of,  at- 
tacked, 329 ;  Patriote  Franqais,  organ 
of,  329;  attempt  of  Dan  ton  to  re- 
concile with  Mountain,  330-331; 
attack  on,  on  March  9,  329-330; 
accusations  against,  on  account  of 
Dumouriez's  failure  and  desertion, 
329,  333;  accusations  against,  of 
federalism,  336-337,  342,  350,  412; 
attitude  toward  centralization,  350; 
expulsion  of,  from  Convention,  342, 
350,  352;  report  of  Saint-Just  on, 
363-364;  defense  of,  by  Brissot,  364- 
365;  report  against,  by  Amar,  369- 
371;  trial  of,  377-382;  verdict 
against,  383-384;  last  hours  and 
execution,  384-386  and  notes;  reac- 
tion in  favor  of,  405-407;  summary 
of  general  policy  of,  411-417;  com- 
parison of,  with  party  of  the  Moun- 
tain, 418-419;  question  of  leader- 
ship of,  by  Brissot,  419;  mentioned, 
1-3,  117,  120,  121  n.,  123,  166  n., 
171-172,  184,  210-211,  214,  249, 
251,  253,  261,  263,  265,  281  and  n., 
282,  288,  289,  291,  292  n.,  299,  307, 
309,  317,  318  n.,  382,  405. 

Goetz-Bernstein,  292  n. 

Gorguereau,  451. 

Gorsas,  348,  381. 

Goulet,  275  n. 

Gouvion,  451. 

Gouy  D'Arsy,  203  and  n.,  204  n. 

Gower,  Earl,  181  n.,  288. 

Grandchamp,  Sophie,  367. 

Gregoire,  121,  202. 

Grenville,  Lord,  320  n. 


Gretry,  rue  de,  393. 

Griffin,  69. 

Grimm,  342  and  n. 

Guadaloupe,  409  n. 

Guadet,  208  and  n.,  210-211,  225,  247, 
252,  270,  281,  286,  288,  289  n.,  290, 
299  and  n.,  309,  331,  333-334,  336, 
351  and  n.,  404,  420  and  n.,  426. 

Guiana,  French,  296. 

Guillard,  8,  11-12. 

Guy-Kirsaint,  120  n. 

Hambourg,  440. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  69,  84. 

Hancock,  General,  69,  75. 

Hanover,  House  of,  295. 

Hartford,  69  n. 

Harvard,  74. 

Haskell,  438. 

Hastings,  Warren,  36. 

Haute-Loire,  Department  of  the,  345. 

Havre,  71,  83. 

Heath,  General,  69,  75. 

Hebert,  338  n.,  378  and  n. 

Hebertists,  253  n. 

Helvetius,  120  n.,  348,  422. 

Helvetius,  Madame,  276. 

Hennin,  264. 

Herault  de  Sechelles,    186  and   n., 

237. 
Holland,  39,  40  and  n.,  50,  53,  85,  316, 

319,  323-324,  337,    375,    377,    438, 

440-441. 
Horeau,  6-7. 
Hudson  River,  81. 
Hungary,  53. 

Illinois  Company,  82  n.,  89. 

India,  61,  339. 

Indians,  65,  80. 

Indies,  East,  36.  81,  339. 

Indies,  West,  182,  389. 

Intermediare  (V)  des  chercheurs  et  des 

curieux,  244  n. 
Ireland,  339. 
Isnard,  230,  235,  241  n.,  251-252,  255, 

260,  341,  345. 
Ivernais  (d'),  Sir  Francis,  22  and  n. 

Jacobin  Club,  attacks  on  Brissot  at, 
268-271,  288,  289;  attack  on  Lafay- 
ette at,  290;  expulsion  of  Brissot 
by,  307-309;  mentioned,  121  n.,  160, 
173,   175-176  and  notes,  177-179, 


INDEX 


521 


194,  222  n.,  223,  226  and  n.,  231  n., 
232  and  n.,  233-239,  241,  289,  307, 
309,  338  n.,  352  n.,  353  n.,  379. 

Jacobin  Party,  accusation  of  guilt  of 
massacres  of  September,  305;  strug- 
gle with  Girondins  during  the  Con- 
vention, 305-309,  334-350,  362  n. 

Janvier,  M.,  10. 

Jarry,  250. 

Jaucourt,  247. 

Jaures,  302  n.,  324. 

Jay,  John,  84. 

Jeanbon,  Saint-Andre,  329. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  66  n.,  186.  431. 

Jesuits,  60. 

Jews,  53,  102,  134,  146,  416. 

Joly,  197,  448. 

Joseph  II,  36  and  n.,  53  n.,  55. 

Journal  de  Paris,  55  n.,  61  n.,  120,  266- 
268  and  notes. 

Journal  general  de  la  cour  et  de  la  ville, 
104  and  n.,  120,  217-218,  219  n., 
228,  242. 

Julien,  318  and  n.,  452. 

Jumilhac,  108-109. 

June  20,  attitude  of  Brissot  toward 
events  of,  281-282. 

Kentucky,  118. 

Kerolio,  138  7^. 

Kersaint,  420  n. 

King,  Rufus,  84. 

Kirwan,  24,  33. 

Koch,  226,  229-231,  239  n.,  242. 

Korman,  37  n.,  38  n. 

Kropotkin,  416  n. 

La  Blancherie,  20  and  n. 

Lacepede,  451. 

Laclos.   See  Choderlos  de  Laclos. 

Lacretelle,  Pierre  Louis,  19  and  n. 

Lafayette,  connection  of  Brissot  with, 
179-180,  186,  191,  193  and  n.,  224, 
241,  268-269,  276,  289  n.,  290,  293, 
308-309,  337,  357  «.,  370,  374  and 
n.,  379-380,  412-413;  mentioned, 
63  n.,  65  n.,  68  n.,  80  n.,  97  and  n., 
125,  157,  159,  162,  167  and  n.,  169 
and  n.,  287  n. 

La  Force,  405. 

La  Harpe,  21  and  n. 

Lameth,  Theodore,  160,  181,  445. 

Lamourette,  283. 

Lanthenas,  120  n.,  121  and  n.,  122, 140, 


151,  160-162,  186,  202  and  n.,  292 
and  n.,  308  n.,  443. 

Laporte,  328. 

Lasource,  382,  n.,  384  n. 

Laurent  de  Couteux,  437. 

Lavoisier,  154. 

Law,  153. 

Lebrun,  360,  376. 

Legislative  Assembly,  Committee  of 
Twenty-one  of,  292,  296-302  and 
notes,  344,  379;  struggle  of,  with 
Commune,  292,  296-302  and  notes. 
379-381;  action  of,  against  Lafay- 
ette, 293,  379-380;  action  of,  toward 
Swiss  troops,  294  and  n.;  action  of, 
toward  foreign  powers  after  August 
10,  294;  attitude  of,  toward  non- 
juring  clergy,  296;  opinion  of  Brissot 
of  work  of,  301-302;  mentioned,  25 
n.,  28. 117-118, 123-124, 175  «.,  181, 
186  n.,  207,  208  n.,  216-217,  223- 
229,  231,  239,  241-242,  244-247, 
251,  253  n.,  258-259, 261, 269, 272  n., 
273-280,  282,  285  n.,  280  n.,  288- 
299  and  notes,  301-303  and  notes, 
317,  332,  370.  373.  378  n.,  379. 

Lenoir,  31-32. 

Leopold,  342. 

Le  Page,  122,  123  n. 

Levant,  The,  399. 

Linguet,  11,  113.  426  n. 

Lisbon,  440. 

Loire,  303  n. 

London,  first  visit  of  Brissot  to.  15; 
location  of  Lycee,  20;  Brissot's  life 
in.  24-33;  mentioned,  30  «.,  161  n.. 
172  n.,  214  n.,  218-219,  285  n.,  317. 
320,  333,  389-390,  400-401, 434.  436. 

Lons-le-Saunier.  160. 

Louis  XIV,  228,  240. 

Louis  XV,  30  n.,  103  n.,  153. 

Louis  XVL  30,  141,  149,  177,  250  n.. 
255-268,  272  n.,  267  n.,  273,  320- 
324,  338-339,  344,  350,  357  n.,  363- 
364,  370-371.  380-381,  440. 

Louisiana,  315,  316  n.,  339. 

Louvet,  235,  238  and  n.,  251-253,  307, 
308  n.,  381. 

Loyseau,  32. 

Lubersac.  186  and  n. 

Luxembourg,  382  n.,  388. 

Luckner,  Marshal,  290. 

Lycee.   See  Brissot. 

Lyons,  39,  151,  222,  223  n.,  371. 


522 


INDEX 


Macaulay,  Mrs.,  26. 

Mackintosh,  36. 

Madeleine,  cemetery,  386  n. 

Madison,  James,  69,  84. 

Madrid,  52,  272,  440. 

Mailhe,  249,  326. 

Maissemy,  114  n.,116  n.,  137. 

Malassisin,  244  n. 

Mallet  du  Pan,  Jacques,  22  and  n.,  36, 
277,  314  n. 

Malouet,  131,  172. 

Maluet,  350. 

Mansfield,  24,  33,  182. 

Manuel,  116,  253. 

Marat,  2, 17. 104, 138-139,  224,  261  n., 
293,  299  and  n.,  305,  309,  329  n., 
331,  333-335,  338,  344,  357  n.,  368, 
379. 

Marchena,  314,  360-361. 

Marie  Antoinette,  30-31. 

Marseilles,  306  n. 

Martin,  320,  439,  441. 

Martinique,  198. 

Massachusetts,  69,  75. 

Massacres  of  September.  See  Septem- 
ber massacres. 

Massiac,  Club  de,  194,  196,  199. 

Mathiez,  179  n. 

Maty,  24. 

Maury,  L'Abbe,  147. 

Mayenne,  20  n. 

Mazzei,  Philippe,  61  n. 

Mediterranean,  339. 

Meillan,  351  and  n.,  352,  425. 

Mentelle,  16-18,  25,  32,  367,  368. 

Mercier,  120  n. 

Mexico,  381. 

Mercure,  Le,  19  and  n.,  21  n. 
Merlin  of  Thion\'ille,  268. 
Middleton,  69  n. 
Mifflin,  Warren,  69. 
Mirabeau,  Gabriel  Riqueti,  Count  de, 
relation  to  Claviere,  22  n. ;  relation  of 
Brissot  and  Claviere  to,  34  and  n., 
35  and  n.;  trouble  with  Brissot  over 
manuscript,   35   and   n.;   work   by 
Brissot  for,  36;  connection  of  Brissot 
with,  in  municipal  affairs,  101;  es- 
tablishment of  newspaper  by,  113  w. ; 
difference  of  opinion  between  Bris- 
sot and,  on  constitution,  126,  128- 
133,  143-144;  opinion  of,  on  foreign 
affairs,  142-143;  opinion  of  Brissot 
on  death  of,  144;  assistance  given  to 


Amis  des  Noirs  by,  183-185  and 
notes,  193-194  and  notes,  202;  men- 
tioned, 221,  250  n.,  442. 

Miranda,  316  n.,  335. 

Mississippi  River,  81,  314. 

Mohawk  River,  81-82. 

Monge,  338  and  n. 

Monin,  96. 

Moniteur,  Le,  mentioned  or  quoted, 
97  71.,  101  n.,  117,  123  n.,  130  n.,  138 
n.,  141  and  n.,  196,  206  n.,  209-211 
notes,  215  n.,  228-233  notes,  235- 
237  notes,  239-242  notes,  244-245 
notes,  247  n.,  249  n.,  251-252  notes, 
254-256  notes,  280-281  notes,  283 
71.,  285  n.,  287  n.,  290-291  notes,  293- 
294  notes,  296-298  notes,  301  n., 
305-306  notes,  310-311  notes,  313- 
314  notes,  316  n.,  318  n.,  320  n.,  322- 
324  notes,  329  n.,  333-334  notes, 
344-347  notes,  357  n.,  364  n.,  369- 
370  notes,  383-384  notes,  420  n. 

Monk,  363,  365. 

Montaigne,  136. 

Montargis,  362. 

Montaut,  328  and  n.,  380-381. 

Montesquieu,  41,  45,  49-50,  56,  285  n., 
288. 

Montesquieu  (General),  313-314. 

Monthly  Review,  303. 

Mont  Jura,  161. 

Montmorin,  219,  272  and  n.,  275  and 
n.,  294,  380. 

Montrol,  10  n. 

Morande,  Theveneau  de,  24,  28-32, 
and  notes,  218-219  and  notes,  301, 
336,  366,  377,   426n. 

Moravian  Brethren,  150. 

Moreau  de  Saint-Mery,  204-205. 

Morris,  Robert,  73  n. 

Mosneron,  198  n. 

Mother-in-law,  of  Brissot.  See  Du- 
pont,  Madame. 

Moulins,  353-356,  359,  360-363  and 
notes,  371. 

Mountain,  Party  of  the,  hostility  be- 
tween, and  Girondins,  305-306,  327- 
333;  attack  of,  on  Girondins  be- 
cause of  Dumouriezs  failure  and 
treason,  329-333;  attack,  of,  on 
Girondin  newspapers,  329  and  n., 
334;  attempt  of  Dan  ton  to  reconcile 
with  Girondins,  330-331;  final 
struggle  with  Girondins,   334-342; 


INDEX 


523 


mentioned,  2-3,  117,  186  n.,  262, 
308,  378  and  n.,  382;  comparison  of, 
with  Girondins,  417-419. 

Municipality  of  Paris,  Brissot's  connec- 
tion with  district  of  the  Filles-Saint- 
Thomas  of,  93,  94-95  notes,  100  n., 
221;  plan  of  Brissot  for  committees 
of  correspondence  of,  93  and  n.,  97- 
98;  Brissot,  president  of  the  Filles- 
Saint-Thomas  of,  97-98;  Brissot's 
part  in  building  up  permanent  organ- 
ization for,  98-101;  Brissot's  ideas 
on  relation  of,  to  central  govern- 
ment, 99-101 ;  Brissot's  ideas  on  re- 
lation of,  to  departments,  101;  Bris- 
sot's part  in  administration  of,  102; 
relation  of,  to  events  of  October  5 
and  6,  102,  106-107;  Brissot's 
opinion  on  sale  of  church  lands  to, 
102-103,  111;  Brissot's  opmion  on 
relation  of,  to  the  caisse  d'escompte, 
103,  111;  relation  of  Brissot  to  the 
section  of  the  Bihliotheque  of,  104  and 
n.,  222;  appeal  in  Brissot's  section 
of,  for  dismissal  of  ministry,  104  and 
n. ;  attempt  of  Brissot  to  interest,  in 
cause  of  negro,  105,  106,  111;  sup- 
port of  Brissot  of  democratic  fac- 
tion of,  104;  relation  of  Brissot  to 
Comite  des  Recherckes  of,  106-110, 
112,  118,  157,  370,  380;  opinion  of 
Brissot  on  balance  of  power  be- 
tween central  council  and  districts 
of,  110-111;  end  of  Brissot's  active 
part  in,  111-112. 

Munster,  Treaty  of,  317. 

Nancy,  158-159. 

Nantes,  152,  162,  203,  204  n. 

Napoleon,  1,  22  n.,  216. 

Narbonne,  233,  235,  245,  261,  268- 
269,  272,  276,  357  n.,  376,  379. 

National  Assembly.  See  Assembly, 
National. 

Necker,  50-51,  115,  148-149,  164,  190 
and  n.,  191-192,  437. 

Negro,  support  of,  by  Brissot  against 
strictures  of  Chastellux,  59-67;  in- 
terest of  Brissot  in  condition  of,  in 
the  United  States,  78-80.  See  also 
Amis  des  Noirs,  and  United  States. 

Netherlands,  376. 

Neuchatel,  22,  54,  354  and  n. 

Nevers,  353. 


Newark,  69  n. 

Newburyport,  69  n. 

New  Hampshire,  84. 

New  Haven,  69  n. 

New  Jersey,  82. 

New  Orleans,  410. 

New  Rochelle,  69  n. 

New  York,  67-68,  69  n.,  72  n.,  75,  77, 

214,409-410,435. 
New  York  Historical  Society  Papers, 

quoted,  79  n.,  221,  434-439. 
Nice,  310,  344. 
Noailles,  251,  273  and  n. 
NoUeau,  10. 

Nootka  Sound,  143  and  n. 
Norfolk,  435. 
North  Sea,  341. 
Nouveau  Voyage,  61  n.  See  also  United 

States. 

Odun  (d'),  Madame,  276,  420. 

Oge,  202-203,  206  n.,  214. 

Ohio,  88. 

Ohio  Company,  85. 

Orleans,  246  n.,  248,  335,  353. 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  23  and  7i.,  33  and  n., 

38-39,  95,  153,  287  n.,  363,  389  n., 

390,  412-413. 
Oswald,  120  n. 

Pache,  309-310,  338  and  n.,  339,  378 
and  7?. 

Facte  de  Famille,  143,  237  n. 

Padua  Circular,  239. 

Paganel,  208  and  n.,  215  n.,  225 
and  n. 

Paine,  Thomas,  63  n.,  121,  171,  305, 
315. 

Palais-Royal.  219,  242. 

Pampeluna,  186  and  n. 

Pange,  Chevalier  de,  109  and  re.,  268 
and  re. 

Paris,  attack  of,  on  Girondins,  334- 
335,  341-350;  mentioned,  10-11, 
14-17, 52, 54,  67,  72, 214-215,  220  re., 
222  and  re.,  223,  243,  272-273  notes, 
283  re.,  297,  299,  304  re.,  306  and  re., 
307-308, 338  re.,  343-350, 352,  353  re., 
358,  362,  366,  368  re.,  370-371,  374, 
378  re.,  381,  388  re.,  392,  394-395, 
401,  404,  408,  412,  418-420,  436. 
See  also  Municipality. 

Parker,  Daniel.  66  and  re.,  71-72  notes, 
73,  83,  433-434,  436-438. 


524 


INDEX 


Parlement  of  Paris,  18,  51. 

Pastoret,  451. 

Pairiote  Franqais,  establishment  of,  by 
Brissot,  2,  96,  113,  416;  quoted,  87- 
88,  101  and  n.,  102,  104-105  notes, 
113-149  and  notes,  152-154,  156, 
158-177  and  notes,  179-181  notes, 
186  n.,  197  n.,  200-201  notes,  211  n., 
214  n.,  216-217,  219,  223  n.,  225  n., 
227  n.,  230-235,  and  notes,  250  n., 
253-259  notes,  260-263  and  notes, 
265-266  notes,  268  n.,  270  n.,  272- 
273  notes,  274  n.,  278-282  notes,  283 
and  n.,  289  and  n.,  290  n.,  293  and 
n.,  296  and  n.,  300  n.,  304  and  n., 
306-307  notes,  309,  311  and  n.,  312 
n.,  317,  321  n.,  326-331  notes,  333 
and  n.,  343  n.,  345  n.,  350  n.,  412  n.; 
struggle  of,  with  censorship,  113- 
116,  137-138;  comparison  of,  with 
other  journals,  113;  first  and  second 
prospectus,  114;  interest  of,  in  muni- 
cipal affairs,  118;  organ  of  the  Amis 
des  Noirs,  118,  194-195,  197  and  n., 
201  n.,  202-207  and  notes;  interest 
of,  in  the  United  States,  118-119, 
125, 130-133, 137, 142, 152, 164. 176; 
style,  119-120;  relation  of,  to  other 
journals,  120;  assistance  of  collabo- 
rators in,  121-122;  assistance  of 
family  in,  123,  196,  400-401;  finan- 
cial support  of  Le  Page  in,  122;  part- 
nership of  Girey-Dupre  in,  123;  re- 
sponsibility of  Brissot  for,  123-124; 
opinion  of,  on  the  declaration  of 
rights  and  on  the  constitution,  124- 
136;  opinion  on  question  of  one 
chamber  or  two,  126-127;  opinion 
on  the  veto,  127-130;  opinion  on 
right  of  declaring  war  and  making 
peace,  130-131;  opinion  on  choice 
of  the  ministry,  130-132;  opinion  on 
methods  of  amendment,  132-133; 
opinion  on  extent  of  suffrage,  133- 
134;  opinion  on  basis  of  suffrage, 
134-135;  support  of,  of  rights  of 
Jews,  Protestants,  and  actors,  134, 
146;  opinion  on  submittal  of  con- 
stitution to  the  people,  135-136, 
180;  opinion  on  judicial  system,  136- 
137,  156-157;  opinion  of  freedom 
of  the  press,  137-138;  opinion  on 
freedom  of  speech,  138-140;  accusa- 
tion of,  for  libel,  140;  forced  aban- 


donment of,  by  Brissot,  141,  329 
and  n. ;  opinion  on  administration  of 
National  Assembly,  141-142;  opin- 
ion on  Avignon,  142;  opinion  on  ec- 
clesiastical questions,  142-147,  260- 
261  and  notes;  opinion  of,  on  Nootka 
Sound,  143;  opinion  of,  on  financial 
questions,  147-153,  359  and  n.;  in- 
terest of,  in  economic  matters,  54; 
opinion  of,  on  events  of  October  5 
and  6, 157-158;  opinion  of,  on  affairs 
of  Nancy,  158-159;  opinion  of,  on 
military  discipline,  159;  interest  of, 
in  democracy,  159-165;  attitude  of, 
toward  popular  societies,  160,  162; 
opinion  of,  on  republicanism,  165- 
177;  opinion  of,  on  flight  to  Va- 
rennes,  168-169 ;  opinion  of,  on  quali- 
fications for  electors,  180  n.;  repu- 
tation of  Brissot  as  editor  of,  181, 
217;  advocacy  by,  of  foreign  war, 
233-235  and  notes,  256-257;  recom- 
mended as  patriotic  by  Jacobin  Club, 
239;  attack  of,  on  Desmoulins,  243 
and  n.;  criticism  by,  of  Narbonne, 
245 ;  attitude  of,  toward  republican- 
ism, 251-255,  277-278;  attack  of, 
on  Robespierre,  270  and  n. ;  attitude 
of,  toward  Dumouriez,  279-280  and 
notes;  attack  of,  on  court,  280 ;  design 
of  pikes  given  by,  281;  approval  by, 
of  "kiss  of  Lamourette,"  283;  atti- 
tude of,  toward  Lafayette,  293;  sup- 
port by,  of  Legislative  Assembly 
against  the  Commune,  296-302; 
summary  by,  of  work  of  Legislative 
Assembly,  301-302;  attitude  of,  on 
abolition  of  royalty,  304  and  n.,  305; 
support  by,  of  Girondins  against 
Mountain,  306  and  n.;  support  by, 
of  Buzot  against  Jacobins,  307; 
attitude  of,  toward  the  revolution- 
ary propaganda  and  annexations, 
311  and  n.;  attitude  of,  toward  open- 
ing of  the  Scheldt,  317;  alleged  sup- 
port of  Lafayette  by,  320;  attitude 
of,  toward  trial  and  death  of  Louis 
XVL  321;  attitude  of,  toward  social 
democracy,  325-327;  attack  on,  as 
Girondin  newspaper,  329  and  n.; 
under  direction  of  Girey-Dupre,  331 ; 
attitude  of,  toward  treason  of  Du- 
mouriez, 332-333;  organ  of  Giron- 
dins, 329;  attacked  in  connection 


INDEX 


525 


with  trial  of  Marat,  324;  attitude 
toward  federalism,  342. 

Pelleport,  23-24,  27,  31-32. 

Peltier,  265,  301. 

Pennsylvania,  49,  77-78,  82-84. 

Pere  Duchene,  Le,  119,  338,  378  n. 

Perroud,  M.  Claude,  quoted,  4-5  notes, 
10  n.,  15  n.,  24  n.,  33  n.,  87  n.,  121, 
122-123  notes,  150  n.,  292  n.,  314  n., 
335  n.,  354-355  notes,  363-364 
notes,  367  «.,  371  n.,  375  n.,  400-403 
notes,  407  n. 

Petion,  source  of  information  on  Bris- 
sot's  childhood,  6,  7  and  n.;  assist- 
ance given  by,  to  Brissot  in  founding 
a  Maison  jphUanthrojnque,  39;  ef- 
forts of,  to  secure  election  of  Brissot 
to  States-General,  94;  assistance 
given  to  Brissot  in  the  Patriote 
Franqais,  121;  agreement  with  Bris- 
sot on  the  constitution,  131,  134- 
135 ;  mentioned  or  quoted,  6-7  notes, 
11 71.,  14  n.,  24  n.,  28  n.,  30  n.,  34  n., 
39,  56  n.,  66-67  notes,  84  n.,  121  n., 
140,  143,  168,  169  and  n.,  176,  180, 
191,  202,  221,  276,  282,  301,  305, 
308  7!.,  333,  335,  351  n.,  379-381, 
395,  404,  425. 

Petit,  275  72. 

Petit-Jean,  108  and  n. 

Philadelphia,  69  n.,  75,  78,  119,  364, 
366,  379,  435. 

Philippe  Egalite,  337. 

Philips,  James,  62  and  n. 

Phillips,  Richard,  425-426. 

Pigott,  138  n.,  151,  186  and  n. 

Pilnitz.  Declaration  of,  239. 

Pinkard,  Dr.,  183. 

Pitt,  ^Yilliam,  218,  335.  337,  371,  375, 
380-381,  435. 

Poitiers,  186  n. 

Poland,  236. 

Polverel,  375. 

Pope,  the,  142-147. 

Porentruy,  313. 

Porter,  435. 

Portsmouth,  69  n. 

Price,  24. 

Priestly,  24,  33. 

Protestants,  53,  416. 

Providence,  69  n. 

Prudhomme,  119. 

Prussia,  235,  250,  273,  309,  317. 

Pyrenees,  310,  339,  341. 


Quakers,  59-61,  67,  77-80,  146,  151, 
161,  182-183,  186  n. 

Ramus,  354  and  n. 

Rebecqui,  344. 

Receveur,  24,  31-32. 

Recherches,  Comite  de.  See  Munici- 
pality. 

Remiremont,  139. 

Republicain,  Le,  371. 

Restoration,  the,  273  n.,  285  n. 

Revolutions  de  France  et  de  Brabant, 
119-120,  229. 

Revolutions  de  Paris,  106  n.,  107,  108 
and  71.,  119-120,  197  and  n.,  270 
71.,  271,  272  and  n.,  274  n.,  303  n., 
420  71. 

Rhine,  227,  283. 

Rhode  Island,  82-83. 

Richelieu,  240. 

Riouffe,  384  and  n. 

Riverol,  243-244  notes. 

Robert,  166  and  n.,  177,  264,  379,  388. 

Robespierre,  antagonism  between  and 
Brissot,  232  and  7i.,  234-235,"237-239 
and  notes,  241-242  and  notes,  243, 
268-271  and  notes,  278  n.,  293,  297, 
302  n.,  303,  307-308,  335,  338,  344; 
mentioned,  2,  140,  168-169,  180- 
181,  287  71.,  331,  426  n.,  442,  447  n. 

Robert,  Dubayet,  215. 

Rochambeau,  250  n. 

Rochefoucauld,  Duke  of,  191,  193  n. 

Roederer,  253. 

Rohan,  Cardinal  de,  231. 

Rolands,  assistance  in  attempting  to 
found  a  maison  pkilanthropique,  39; 
assistance  in  attempting  to  found 
the  Societe  agricole,  89,  151;  connec- 
tion with  Patriote  Franqais,  121-122 
and  notes,  262;  mentioned,  7  n., 
33  n.,  330.  See  also  Roland, 
Madame;  Roland,  M. 

Roland,  Madame,  assistance  of,  on 
the  Patriote  Franqais,  121-122  and 
notes,  134-135  and  notes;  connec- 
tion with  Brissot,  161-162  notes, 
168-170  and  notes,  178  and  n.,  180 
and  71.,  262-265  and  notes,  367-368 
and  notes,  404,  420  and  n.,  422; 
opinion  of,  concerning  Brissot,  424- 
425 ;  opinion  of,  concerning  Madame 
Brissot,  397;  opinion  quoted,  144  n., 
150   71.,    151,    168-170   and   notes. 


526 


INDEX 


175  n.,  176  and  n.,  180  n.,  202  n., 
206  and  n.,  219,  223  and  n.,  262-265 
and  notes,  279,  280  n.,  281,  289  and 
n.,  292  n.,  300  n.,  306,  315  n.,  352  n., 
367  and  n.,  368  ti.,  399  n.,  420  n., 
423  and  n. 

Roland,  M.,  connection  with  Brissot, 
121,  161-162,  249,  262-263,  265, 
279,  292  and  n.,  306,  337,  404,  414, 
420. 

Rome,  237. 

Rousseau,  8,  41-44,  56,  75,  150. 

Royer,  358  n. 

Ruelle,  376. 

Ruhl,  231. 

Russia,  84,  236,  320,  439. 

Rye,  69  n. 

Saint-Cloud,  108,  159,  167,  364,  404- 
405. 

Saint-Cyr,  408. 

Saint-Cyran,  213  and  n. 

Saint-Denis,  223  n. 

Saint-Just,  301,  363-364,  371  n.,  372. 

Saint  Paul,  9  and  n.,  25,  41-42. 

Saint-Pierre,  Bernardin  de,  32-33. 

Saint  Petersburg,  237,  320,  439. 

Saint-Pourgain,  359. 

Sainte-Beuve,  387, 

Salem,  69  n. 

Salle,  334,  351  n. 

Saloman,  156,  276. 

Santhonax,  375  and  n.,  379-380. 

Santo  Domingo,  192,  195-196,  199, 
208-210,  212-215  and  notes,  315, 
375,  410,  448-450. 

Savoy,  22,  310,  312,  319,  344. 

Scheldt,  310,  316-317,  319,  375. 

Schuyler,  84. 

Scioto  Company,  70 n.,  73  and  n.,  79  n., 
85-89  and  notes,  221,  396. 

Scioto  Company,  French,  87-89. 

Segur,  250. 

Seine  River,  345. 

Seine,  Department  of  the,  101,  253  n. 

Seinie,  Countess  de,  94. 

Sens,  285  n. 

September,  massacres  of,  300-302;  con- 
nection of  Brissot  with,  300-302, 
362-364;  responsibility  for,  305,  366, 
414. 

Sergent  Margeau,  281  and  n. 

Servan,  279,  314  and  n. 

Seton,  437-438. 


Sharps,  Granville,  183. 

Shays'  Rebellion,  159. 

Sieyes,  136,  138,  144,  276-277. 

Sillery,  Marquis  de,  21  n.,  384  and  n. 

Slavery  and  the  Slave  Trade,  opposi- 
tion to,  78-80,  84;  recognition  of,  by 
Constitution  of  United  States,  84. 
See  also  Amis  des  Noirs. 

Socieie  agricole,  89,  150-151,  161. 

Sorel,  250  n.,  312. 

Soulavie,  287  and  n.,  424  and  n. 

Souque,  352  and  n.,  353-358,  361-362. 

Spain,  81,  143,  237  n.,  313-315,  323, 
339,  360,  364,  375,  380-381. 

Spencer,  69  n. 

Springfield,  69  n. 

Stadinski,  66  n.,  67  and  n.,  426. 

Stadtholder,  319. 

States-General,  principles  of  Brissot 
in  regard  to,  93;  connection  of  Bris- 
sot with  elections  to,  93-96;  draft 
of  a  cahier  for,  93-96;  failure  of  Bris- 
sot to  secure  election  to,  95  and  n.; 
mentioned,  52,  74,  85,  115-117,  125, 
137,  153  and  n.,  158,  165,  186  n., 
188,  196  and  n.,  216-217,  435. 

Stockholm,  237. 

Strasbourg,  227,  320. 

Swinton,  13-16,  24,  27,  113,  219,  387, 
399,  426  n. 

Sweden,  236. 

Switzerland,  21,  314, 354,  and  n.,  357  n. 

Sybel,  von,  246. 

Talien,  450. 

Talleyrand,  152-153,  162,  250,  375. 

Tarbe,  208,  211. 

Terror,  the,  2-3,  250  n.,  273  n.,  284, 

328  414. 
Therraidor,   250  n.,   253  n.,   264  n., 

352  n. 
Thomassin,  108. 
Thorillon,  451. 
Thouret,  136. 
Tobago,  250. 
Toulouse,  20  n.,  273  n. 
Toussaint  I'Ouverture,  212. 
Tremondrie,  201  n. 
Trenton,  69  n. 
Treves,  Elector   of,  236,  239  and  n., 

255. 
Tuiler'ies,  164,  284,  291,  294. 
Turgot,  35  and  n.,  50-51,  103,  164. 
Turin,  440. 


INDEX 


527 


United  States,  reasons  for  Brissot's 
journey  to,  40,  61;  interest  of  Brissot 
in,  48-50,  59-90,  372;  influence  of, 
on  Brissot,  49;  admiration  of  Brissot 
for,  49-50;  efforts  of  Brissot  to  ob- 
tain means  for  a  journey  to,  61; 
argument  of  Brissot  for  close  rela- 
tions with,  63-66;  opportunity  for 
journey  to,  66 ;  employment  of  Bris- 
sot by  speculators  in  American  debts 
and  lands,  66-67,  72-73,  85-89; 
contract  of  Brissot  for  journey  to, 
67,  72-73;  purposes  of  journey,  67- 
68;  questions  of  Brissot  concerning, 
68;  fitness  of  Brissot  for  investiga- 
tion of,  68-70;  limitations  of  Brissot 
as  an  investigator,  70;  general  atti- 
tude of  Brissot  toward  the,  70;  ex- 
periences of  Brissot  during  voyage 
to,  71;  visit  of  Brissot  to  Cambridge 
and  John  Adams,  74;  visit  to  Han- 
cock, 74 ;  opinions  concerning  Samuel 
Adams,  74;  journey  of  Brissot  to 
New  York,  75-76;  opinion  of  Bris- 
sot on  stage-coaches  in,  76;  opinion 
on  inns  in,  76 ;  opinion  on  position  of 
women  in,  76;  opinion  of  growing 
luxury  in,  76-77;  relation  with 
Quakers  in,  and  opinion  of,  77-78; 
opinion  on  forms  of  worship  in,  77- 
78;  visit  to  Franklin  in,  78;  interest 
in  condition  of  negro  in,  78-80;  in- 
terest in  economic  problems  of,  80- 
82;  interest  in  western  expansion  of. 
80;  interest  in,  as  a  possible  place 
of  settlement,  81-82;  criticism  of 
paper  money  of,  82-83;  admiration 
for  liberty  and  equality  in,  83-84; 
acquaintance  with  distinguished  citi- 
zens of,  84;  attitude  toward  new  con- 
stitution of,  84;  departure  from,  85; 
interest  in  land  companies  in,  85-89; 
account  of  journey  to,  published  in 
Nouveau  Voyage,  88-90;  settlement 
of  relations  in,  89;  subsequent  in- 
fluence of,  upon  Brissot,  90,  150- 
151,  176,  310,  413;  influence  of,  seen 
in  Patriote  Frangais,  117-119,  125, 
130-133, 137, 142, 152, 176, 181,  227; 
influence  of,  on  Brissot  in  connec- 
tion with  war,  238;  influence  of,  on 
Amis  des  Noirs,  189;  influence  of, 
on  Brissot's  plan  for  expedition  to 
Spanish  America,  315-316;  alleged 


influence  of,  on  federalistic  ideas  of 
Brissot,  349;  alleged  imderstanding 
of  Brissot  with  government  of,  364- 
366;  plans  of  Madame  Brissot  for 
emigration  to,  394-395;  settlement 
of  Frangois  Dupont  in,  399;  alleged 
close  connection  of  Brissot  with, 
400  and  n.;  residence  of  Silvain 
Brissot  in,  409,  410;  correspondence 
in  regard  to  speculation  in  the  debt 
of,  and  in  land,  431-439;  mentioned, 
280  n.,  291,  332,  348.  364,  372.  See 
also  Gallo-Americaine  SocieiS,  and 
Nouveau  Voyage. 

Uri,  313. 

Utrecht,  Peace  of,  319. 

Valady,  Marquis  de,  184,  394  and  n., 

395. 
Valaze,  321,  384,  407,  420. 
Vallots,  396. 
Vancouver  Sound,  143. 
Van  Staphorst,  436. 
Varennes,  168,  413. 
Vatel,  30. 
Vellay,  Charles,  collection  of  papers  of 

Brissot,  67  n.,  68  n.,  87  n.,  89  n. 
Vendee,  279,  380,  381. 
Vergennes,  13,  399. 
Vergniaud,  102,225,240,  247,  252-253, 

261-262,  282-293,  288,  299  and  n., 

309,  333-334,  351,  382  n.,  420  and 

n.,  426. 
Versailles,  106  n.,  115,  191,  276,  340, 

352,  354  n.,  407. 
Vienna,  240,  251,  273  n.,  320,  439. 
Villar,  Noel,  20  and  n.,  21,  23. 
Villate,  383-384  and  notes. 
Villefranche,  39. 
Vingtain,  32. 
Virginia,  69,  84. 
Volney,  240  n. 
Voltaire,  8,  13,  41-42,  45,  56,  146. 

War,  foreign,  opposition  to,  229-235; 

letters   from    England   concerning, 

439-441.   See  also  Brissot. 
Warren,  231. 
Warville,  de,  10  and  n.,  11,  163  n.,  220, 

221    and   n.,    328,   431,   435,   438- 

439. 
Washington,  68  n.,  69,  79-80,  97,  118, 

231. 


538 


INDEX 


Washington,  Mrs.,  80. 

Wethersfield,  69  n. 

Wilberforce,  183,  190  n. 

Williams,  David,  25  and  n.,  26,  49, 

324  m. 
WilUams,  Helena,  382,  409 


Wilmington,  69  n. 

Yonne,  223  n.,  410  and  n. 

York,  Duke  of,  299,  300  and  n.,  363. 

Zurich,  313. 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .   A 


n. 


A     000  665  509     6 


